NeoQuest Adventures
by garon604
Summary: A flash of crystal light... a loud screech... and the White Lupe has found himself brought back in time to Ancient Neopia. Can he save it? See the world of NQ1 from the Lupe's very own eyes!
1. Neopia City

'Yes... yes! My experiment is about to be put into operation!'

The Mad Scorchio Scientist laughed maniacally as he pushed a bunch of colourful buttons. He looked over his large control panel to the Lupe that was chained to the dissecting table. A large saw hovered above, dangling as if it could fall and chop the White Lupe in half.

'What- what are you going to do to me?' asked the Lupe, scared. 'I only just wanted to see what it- what it was!'

'You didn't have a map or an owner!' cackled the scientist. 'What would anyone need you for except me? This experiment is going to make me famous!'

'Selling Lupe inside isn't going to make you famous!' the Lupe replied.

'Who said I was going to sell your guts?' asked the scientist. 'No, no... that's way too extreme. I need to test out this time travel device!'

'T- time travel device?'

'Yes, a time travel device! I stole it from that idiot Chia after he managed to fix it. Turns out it wasn't fixed at all, and he was cast away to who-knows-where. I've spent decades fixing it, and now it is finally complete!'

'And how does this involve me?'

'Simple,' said the Scientist, checking how much electricity was coming in through the lightening rod. 'I will send you back in time thousands of years ago. If all goes well, you'll land safely in Ancient Neopia.'

'And if all doesn't go well?'

'You can go join that Chia.' the scientist said, smiling a truly evil smile.

Suddenly, a siren sounded from far away.

'Yes! Enough electricity has finally been stored!' cackled the scientist in delight. He turned to the frightened Lupe, who was shaking like crazy.

'Well, I hope you come out well,' said the madman, surveying the Lupe through his maniacal eyes.

'No- no! Please, I'll do anything...'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah; you and everybody else in Neopia,' he said. The Scorchio Scientist pulled a lever on the control panel, and the machine began to whir. The saw was abducted into the ceiling, and it was replaced by a crystal ray gun which had two large clocks on it. It sort of looked like a smaller version of the Lab Ray.

'You should come out okay,' said the scientist. 'Well, I hope you do anyways.'

He pressed a large crystal button on the control panel, and the shining ray began to glow with power. And then, all of the energy gathered together, and sent a gigantic stream of brilliant light towards the Lupe. He wiggled, but it was useless. The chains binding him were too strong for him to break free.

'No... no... noooooooooo!' He felt his molecules begin to dissolve; his mind begin to waver; his soul being yanked out of him.

With all his might, he screamed, 'NOOOOOOOO!', but not just an ordinary NOOOOOOOO! either. This one echoed all throughout time: when Kevin Poogle died; when Fyora banished the Darkest Faerie; when Maraqua was destroyed. And the NOOOOOOOO!s of those who are lost are joined into the White Lupe's NOOOOOOOO! as he was pulled back; back; back throughout time...

The first thing I felt was my mind and soul. It was as if they were being gathered into one area like the energy orbs in the Crystal Time Ray. My molecules formed using my spirit as a model, and I found myself sitting on the hard, stone floor of Neopia Palace, with the wandering eyes of Eleus Batrin looking at me like I was a freak.

'Who are you, and where did you come from?' the Kyrii asked.

I didn't really know how to answer it. I felt a bit disorientated after my little trip through time. Clumsily, I got up on my hind legs and faced the questioning Neopet.

'I am... I do not remember who I am,' I said. 'I am a White Lupe, and I come from the future,'

Eleus looked at me in a strange way. Even though his face looked like I should go and see the local psychiatrist immediately, somehow or another, I could sense that he believed me.

'Well, welcome to Ancient Neopia!' he said cheerfully. 'I'm not sure exactly who you are or how you got here, but welcome! Welcome! Let me give you a tour of Neopia City! Follow me now, watch your step...'

He led me out of the palace into the brilliant sunlight. I was now facing a small city with many Neopets bustling through it. The Kyrii smiled at me.

I asked, 'Who exactly are you?'

Eleus smiled. 'I am Eleus Batrin, master weapon smith here in Neopia City. I can make you weapons, but first I need the proper ingredients.'

'Like what?' I asked.

Suddenly, a small Pteri flew up to the weapon smith. 'Important notice for Eleus Batrin!'

'Yes, Margo?' he asked.

'Liona has just arrived in the Palace and is awaiting your acquaintance, sir!'

Eleus's expression looked grave. He turned around to me and said, 'I am afraid that I must leave you for a small amount of time while I take care of some business. Please feel free to explore around the town, but whatever you do, DO NOT LEAVE THE CITY LIMITS!' Then, he turned and left.

Margo the Messenger flew off into the sky. I watched him fly through the ancient clouds until he was out of site, far, faraway in the mountains. I sighed, and sat down.

Many Neopets passed me. Some looked at me with pity, and some with curiosity. Only one person that I saw really mattered though, and that was Lummock Sendent.

A Tuskaninny surveyed me through his rough beard. 'Oi! You there!'

I looked up and saw the massive form of a Tuskaninny. He was carrying a huge load of lupe pelt, lupe teeth, and a whole assortment of other items. He looked like a very sickening pat rat or a weapon smith.

'What do you think you're doing, sitting in front of Neopia Palace?' he asked in a gruff voice.

'I- I-'

'Don't give me the I's!' he roared. 'Come with me!'

He slithered off in the north east direction. I had nothing better to do, so I quickly ran after him. He led me past a small structure and stopped at the most north east one in the city.

'Here it is! My workshop!'

It looked more like an abandoned shack than a workshop. Tiles were falling off from the ceiling, and a shatter went BAM! BAM! in the wind. There were no doors either; just archways that led into the house and work area. He led me to the entrance to his workplace, but all of a sudden, a small, floating something darted out from nowhere. It looked like a Baby Fireball, and made of fire it was.

The Tuskaninny dropped everything he was holding on to my forelegs. I struggled to hold everything, and finally just dumped it on to a small pile next to his house entrance. A few nearby citizens screamed and ran off in different directions at the arrival of the fire imp.

'Clear!' shouted the Tuskaninny. A lone Korbat watched, transfixed. 'You go, Lummock Sendent!'

Lummock whipped something from his wolf-skin vest. It was a small stick that was completely Blue. The Tuskaninny focused all his might and with all of his effort, he omitted a small bolt of lightening from the wand. It shot towards the fire imp and hit it directly on the body. It staggered back, and fell. The defeated imp seemed to explode in a flash of light, and in its place was a small yellow gem.

'Perfect!' said Lummock, satisfied. He bent down and picked up the small stone. 'This is just what I need!'

Smiling, he tucked it away in a hidden pocket. Forgetting his large pile of assortments, he ushered the completely amazed me into his work area and pulled a string. A hand-made tapestry fell from it, covering the door. Light still shined through the window, and I could get a good look at his work area. A small table attached to the wall filled one wall.

Everywhere else in the small shack was just basically completely filled with odds and ends, like a junkyard.

'Well, I haven't gotten a chance to fully introduce myself yet!' the Tuskaninny said. 'I'm Lummock Sendent, and I am the junior weapon smith of Neopia City!' He looked at me. 'Do you have any questions? Well, then sit down! We have a lot of time for your queries!'

He pointed towards two small stone chairs. I sank into mine, while Lummock plopped down on his.

'Well, what would you like to ask me?' he asked me. I was still too astonished to think, but I managed to think up a very simple question:

'What- what WAS that little Baby Fireball thing?'

Lummock looked at me like I was crazy. 'What's a Baby Fireball?'

'They're a breed of petpet,' I replied, amazed at how little this Tuskaninny knew.

'A petpet?' roared the weapon smith. 'That was no petpet! That was a fire imp!'

'A fire-'

'Yes, a fire imp! They're just one of those many, many creatures which roam Neopia's countryside these days,'

'And why would they do that?'

'I dunno,' he replied. 'But I'm sure Eleus must know. Anything else you want to ask me?'

I only had one query left, and it was very, very simple. 'What was that blue stick thing?'

'Oh, you mean my Blue Wand?' the Tuskaninny roared. He put his paw inside his pocket and drew it out again. It was vibrating a little after defeating the fire imp.

'A- a wand?'

'Don't act stupid with me, boy! Of course it's a wand.' the Tuskaninny said in reply. 'Wands are the basic source of attack in Ancient Neopia. I can only make the very simple wands which register at damage 3, but I hear that Eleus can make much better ones, if you give him the correct items.'

'Can- can I get a wand?' I asked meekly.

'If you bring me the right items,' he answered.

'And where can I get the right items?'

'By defeating monsters. Sometimes, when you defeat monsters, they drop little items that can be used to make other items. Certain people around still have the gift of crafting the wondrous wands and defense items, but you have to give them the correct items first.'

'But- but I don't have anything to defeat monsters with!'

Lummock slapped himself on the forehead. 'Of course! You're new! Here, I'll give you something for free...'

He stood up and rummaged through all his items until he found five wands. Each was a different colour: Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, and White.

'Each colour wand signifies a different sphere of magic,' explained Lummock. 'Red is the colour for fire magic, your basic attack power. Blue is the proper colour for ice magic, a passive skill trait and one of my favourite. Yellow is a sign of Shock Magic, slowing down your opponent and stopping them altogether. Black is the basic shade for Spectral Magic, which mainly involves defensive skills. And finally, white means Life Magic, which is the art of pure healing. Which one will you choose?'

He held up the five magic wands in front of me. I knew I had a variety of choices, but after a long time of thinking, I finally decided on getting the White Wand.

'Light Magic, eh?' chuckled Lummock. 'Well, each person has their own tastes... well, go ahead, give it a whoosh.'

I waved it through the air. Small particles of what looked like aloe spurted out from the tip of it like small fireworks inside Lummock Sendent's work area.

'Bravo! Now you're ready,' cheered the Tuskaninny. 'I wish you the best of luck! I have some work to do, but please feel free to continue exploring the town.'

'Alright, thanks!' I said cheerfully. I turned and left Lummock Sendent's house with a much lighter heart. Now that I had a magic wand, I felt much more cheerful, and headed in the south direction. I had only just gone past an unused building when I crashed into a Purple Poogle carrying a large gauntlet.

'Good day there!' said she. 'You look lost. Come with me!'

She led me to the south east building: her workshop. It was much more high tech and cleaner than Lummock's, with no falling tiles or flapping window shatters in the wind. I followed the Poogle into her building. As soon as we sat down I asked her, 'Who are you and what do you do here?'

Sipping a cup of tea, she replied, 'I am Choras Tillie. I am the master armour smith of the town. If you bring me the correct items, I'd be happy to make you new items.'

She presented a small tablet with items needed to make armour.

'What exactly is armour?' I asked.

'Hmmm… let's see…' began Choras, pursing her lips thoughtfully, 'Armour is your basic type of defense in Ancient Neopia. You'll need the extra defense power for those dumb monsters that keep roaming around here lately.'

'What kind of armour is there?'

'Well, there's Magical Armour and Energy Armour. Both are good for use in my opinion, but that's your decision. Most armour smiths send adventurers on quests to find certain items before they can make anyone armour.'

Choras's eyes twinkled. 'I don't think you have any items to give me, but that's okay. When you're a little more experienced, you can come see me again.'

I turned to leave, but Choras suddenly spoke up. 'Morax Dorangis, my apprentice in the skill of defensive armour, might be kind enough to give you one for free. He lives in the south western house of the town. I think you should go see him!'

'Thanks,' I said, leaving. 'I'll be back later.'

Waving, I stepped out of Choras's workshop. The brilliant sun was still shining high in the sky, and I could see a small grove in the distance. I ran past the southern building to Morax's workshop.

When I stepped inside, a small bell rang, and a Scorchio turned around from his worktable to survey me. 'Yes, what is it?'

'Choras Tillie sent me,' I replied. 'She said that you might give me some armour for free?'

'Ah, yes,' said Morax, nodding. 'Ol' teach sent me the notice. I haven't had time to prepare both types, but I have managed to whip up this.'

He picked up a bundle of robes from a nearby counter and showed it to me. It was a beautiful purple colour, fit for a magician.

'Thank you so much!' I said gratefully, trying it on. It was a perfect fit. The cloth felt very smooth against my fur.

'Hey, no problemo,' he replied. 'Off you go! I have work to do!'

I left his workshop in a hurry without saying good-bye. I headed north and entered the north western house.

Entering, I saw a small Jubjub with a starry-patterned cloak reading out of a large spell book.

'Abracadabra, alakazam, make Eleus healthy, just as I am!'

That's when he noticed me. The Jubjub turned around and looked at me with mild surprise.

'Oh, hello,' he said. 'I am Boraxis the Healer, your local medic. If you're ever hurt, you can always come and ask for my help, and I'll be happy to serve you.'

'Thanks, I'm sure,' I said. I began to leave, but Boraxis suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly stopped me.

'Oh wait!' he said hurriedly. 'I have just received a message from Margo: Eleus Batrin is waiting for you in the Hills of Jub!'

'Where's that?' I asked.

'Go northwest from my house! You can't miss it!'

'Alright, thanks again,' I said, Once again, I turned to leave, but the Healer stopped me again.

'Wait! The hills are filled with monsters! Just a warning: watch out!'

'What should I do if I encounter one?' I asked.

'You have a wand, don't you?'

'Yes,'

'Then give them a zap with that wand, and eventually they'll fall. Just make sure you don't faint yourself!'

I left into the brilliant sunshine. The plains in front of me didn't seem to be too dangerous. I marched out, extremely happy and confident.

'Oh the irony!' I screamed in agony. I had been attacked by imps whom I had blasted away in two or three hits, but I had now just encountered a humungous Grey Lupe the size of a large bear. It was ripping me apart, and there wasn't anything I could do. My life seemed to flash before my eyes: Eleus, Margo, Lummock, Choras…

Suddenly, a large blast of magic hit the lupe, and it retreated. I looked up to see Eleus Batrin staring at me with concern.

'Here, drink this!' said the Kyrii. He gave me a small potion of some sort, which I drank down quickly.

'That was a Healing Potion,' the Kyrii explained. 'Some monsters drop them when you defeat them. They're important when people like Boraxis the Healer aren't around anymore.'

Thanking him, I got up.

'Now that you're healthy, I need you to do a special task for me.'

'Yes?' I asked, curious.

'I need you to go into the Dank Caves and retrieve the Ring of Xantan,' he explained. 'The Ring is worn by Xantan the Foul, the foulest creature in the area. I can't go through those caves; I'm too old! But you can. Just step inside and get to Xantan near the end of the cave, but watch out for the cave monsters. Once you defeat Xantan, I'm sure he'll drop the ring for you to get. Also, some monsters inside might drop items needed to make better armour,'

He smiled. 'I wish you the best of luck! Now, here's the entrance.'

I noticed that there was a large cave that led into a hill. A small ladder descended into complete darkness.

'Go- go down there?' I stammered.

'Yes,' the weapon smith replied. 'You must. I need to get that Ring, because I feel that it might give me a small lead on all this monster nonsense,'

'Well, if you insist...' I said. Silently, I climbed down the rope ladder into pitch darkness.

'Good luck!' yelled Eleus from the opening. 'And be careful!'

'All right Mr. Batrin!' I cried. 'I'll do the best I-'

But before I could finish, a low growling came from the darkness. I wheeled around to see the HUGEST cave lupe ever!

And it was hungry. Very hungry. I could tell from the drooling and the absence of food stuck in its fangs. And it wanted me alright, but it was in a rather special way.

It wanted me eaten.


	2. The Dank Caves

I could imagine the scene now: a gigantic cave lupe looking down upon a weak-looking white Lupe, who was shaking like jelly. Blasting away monsters like these was basically a new concept for me. Just a few hours ago, I had been whisked back in time by the Scorchio's Time Ray to Ancient Neopia, and now I've learned that I have to go and retrieve the Ring of Xantan from Xantan the Foul, who lived in the Dank Caves, where I am now.

'If I can't even defeat this cave lupe,' I thought, 'Then I'll never be able to defeat Xantan!'

After a few battles or so with fire and ice imps and the occasional plains beast, I had become a lot stronger, but not strong enough to take on this cave lupe. All hope was basically lost until I remembered that I did have a magic wand.

Quickly, I leaped back up on my hind legs and gathered all of my energy into making the best shot. The caves lupe, growling, had reacted faster than me, as it was the predator. It leaped up and prepared to pounce on me, but I got out of the way just in time. That completely broke my concentration.

I need to find a way to keep that lupe away from me while I concentrate on a good spell!' I thought. Frantically, I looked around for something to mesmerize the lupe for a while. That's when I noticed that the caves lupe, when it had leaped up, avoided the small stream of sunlight that came from the hole that was the cave's entrance and exit. I dashed towards the small rope ladder dangling from the top and began to focus my skills. True to my suspicions, the cave Lupe would not move anywhere near it, but circled it menacingly.

I kept my cool, and soon, by using all of my energy and strength, managed to gather all of it into one area at the tip of my wand. With a powerful white shot of radiant lightening from my White Wand of Life Magic, I hit the cave lupe and sent it flying towards the cavern wall with a loud crunching noise.

'Phew!' I sighed. I quickly ran up to it to see if it had dropped any items. A small cave lupe pelt laid on the floor, which I picked up and stored away. Some items could be used to given to certain people around Ancient Neopia that could make better weapons or armour. I sprinted away; there was nothing interesting about a fallen cave lupe.

I met many cave monsters, which included more cave lupes and cave imps. After the first terrifying encounter, most of them were pretty easy to defeat now. The Dank Caves were very properly named: very scary, very wet, very dark, completely dank. I thought I would die for want of air soon, but I knew that I had to be strong. Keeping calm, I finally reached a small slide which would take me down to the next level.

Nothing was very interesting down there at the Upper Temple level. Nothing except Rikti, anyways.

I was surprised that there were pillars, statues, chairs, and tables under here in the middle of the Dank Caves, but I didn't wonder how they got there. They were completely swept out of my mind by a small, frightened Korbat sitting against the wall.

'Y-you don't look like a m-monster!' it said in a frightened voice. It looked like a very normal Red Korbat with a small backpack on its back. 'W-what are you?'

'I'm an adventurer, from Neopia City,' I replied. I wasn't scared of it, but it obviously was scared of me. 'Eleus Batrin sent me to get the Ring of Xantan.'

When I said the word 'Xantan', the Korbat shuddered. 'Never say that name around me! It brings fear and dread to my heart.'

'Huh?' I asked.

'I am Rikti the Korbat, from a far place in the great Swamps of Neopia,' he began. 'I decided to venture from my home, much to the disapproval of my brother, to explore the Dank Caves. I have been bewitched by Xantan the Foul, when he discovered me. I am rooted to this very spot and cannot move, so I can't leave until Xantan dies. The monsters usually just leave me alone, I don't know why, but they just do. The Foul Beast, who is a powerful wizard, lives at the bottom of this dungeon. It will take all your strength to defeat him if you want to get his Ring!'

I stood very still after this extraordinary announcement. 'All my magical powers? But today was the first day I've ever used a wand!'

The Young Korbat looked at me like I was insane. 'What? What are you even DOING down here if you're that weak? How'd you fight off all those monsters? I couldn't even escape them without a scratch, but you-'

Rikti's face lit up as he realized I was wearing the Cloth Robes that Morax had given me, back in Neopia City. He looked at me with new eyes, but they also showed fear.

'I want you to leave me in peace,' said Rikti. 'You may go, but if you get killed by that filthy beast, don't blame me,'

It seemed to take forever, but finally, I had made it to a small ramp going down. This was, as Eleus had mentioned before, the way down to the lower temple of the Dark Caves. 'It'll only get darker from here,' I recalled. Taking a deep breath, I jumped into the yawning hole going downwards.

I landed with a plop on the floor. Dust rose everywhere as the untouched earth as I landed. Standing up and brushing myself, I found bits of skeleton hanging everywhere.

'Ew!' I said to myself, beginning my walk down the passageway. It was extremely dark and filthy. As I went on, I gradually saw more skeletons and a lot more filth. Now I also realized why it was called a 'temple'; it looked as if somebody had lived here before, but not in a long time. Already, I had passed many rooms and fought many monsters. My items pack was gradually getting heavier and heavier as it was loaded with tiny gemstones and healing potions.

With each step I took, I knew I was heading closer and closer to my goal: Xantan the Foul. I could fight off most monsters on that level, which included broken, burnt, and frozen skeletons. As they dropped dead (again) the piles of bones grew larger and larger. Each way I looked, there were decaying skeletons, and my feet crunched on them with each step.

Finally, I reached the ramp downwards to the fourth and final level of the Dank Caves. This was supposed to be a big maze, and at the end- Xantan's Lair. Gulping, I slid down the ramp into the complete darkness of Level 4.

'Ewww! What is this stuff?'

Stepping out of a small room in which the ramp had landed in, I had stood up and left into the maze. There were twists and turns everywhere, and everything was covered with a thick layer of slime; yes, a thick layer of slime. It is NOT very fun to go tracking through all the sticky, gooey stuff, especially when you're already covered in dust and dirt. I had tracked through almost everything the maze had to offer, and that was quite a lot. Many monsters, including Slorgs, dropped many things: rods of rock, small gemstones, healing potions, and more. Finally, I reached my destination: Xantan's lair. It wasn't very distinguishable from everything else; the entrance was covered in thick, brown slime. It was a bit lighter in there, if slimier and grosser. I knew that Xantan the Foul, made of decay and sludge, was at the end of a small hallway that was his lair. But the scariest part was his skeletal guardians.

There were two of them, but I didn't know that. I was slowly sinking in slime with every step I took, but I never really went under the surface of it. I wasn't aware of two skeletal, undead things conjured up by the Sludge beast that was slowly following me around where ever I went; I just wanted to get out of that mess, and quickly too.

They attacked when they saw the chance: right before I would see Xantan. Only one attacked at a time to deceive me. I was expecting a monster or two in Xantan's very own lair, but I wasn't expecting this one.

'Ahhh!' I yelled as it pounced with hits skeletal fury. The skeleton guard carried a large staff, which it either shot spells at me or whacked me with. With my quick reflexes, I quickly managed to send a counter strike spell at it, which hit it but very weakly. I couldn't escape from it; it wouldn't let me go to Xantan or go back the way I came. I knew that I had to battle it.

WHAM! As I was deciding, it hit me in the chin with its staff. 'You undead skeletal creep!' I roared, getting up. 'You're going to regret ever doing that!'

KABAM! I hit it with the strongest spell I could muster, and that was pretty strong after all of my training.

After many other hardships with the monster, we reached a time of final fury: both I and it were very tired and nearly beat, but we had enough energy to keep going on. It raised its staff to whack me with it one last time, and I raised my wand to zap it one last time. A small force of white energy gathered at the tip of my wand, and the skeleton guard began to advance forward towards me. It raised its staff to attack, leaving its ribcage unguarded. I lowered my wand, grabbed it with both wands, and shot my most powerful spell at him while he threw his staff at me.

A loud explosion took place. Bits of slime went flying everywhere as the two magical items clashed together. I was thrown back by the impact of the blow, and so was the skeleton guard. You can imagine what something like a skeleton will do if it hits a wall with a very strong impact.

I ran up to where it had fallen, and discovered that there were two sets of skeletons instead of one. I shrugged, thinking, 'Oh well. At least I get some more cool stuff!'

I scooped up the hoard of Healing Potions and a small piece of tattered cloth, and looked towards the hallway's end.

'So,' screeched a voice from the end of the hall. 'You've defeated my Skeleton Guards, and now you're going to defeat me? Pah!'

His voice rang through the hall like sludge. It seemed to defy normal sound waves and simply have the power to ooze into your ears, leaving you unable to do anything about it.

'Who are you?' I asked, stupidly. It was the first thing I could think of.

The voice laughed. 'You do not realize who I am? I would have expected much better of you, after all that you've done to my creations!'

Something inside my head suddenly clicked, without warning. 'You- you're Xantan! You're Xantan the Foul, aren't you?'

'That's right,' said the voice evilly. 'And I'm coming to kill you!'

Quick as a flash, and as nimble as a Blumaroo, Xantan had slithered up to me and I could get a better look at him. He was, in fact, made of slime, like a mutated Sludgy. Its face gave the being a mad look to it, and around its 'neck' was a small, brook-coloured cape with small purple stars on it.

'Go away and never come back!' It cried.

'Never!' I replied.

The creature sighed. 'If you insist...'

'Yes, I do, and I'm not leaving until I get what I want!'

'Then you shall now suffer the consequences!' It reared up to attack!

It brought forth its sludgy hands and they slowly began to glow with fiery energy. He was working up a fire attack! I couldn't do that with my White Wand, but I still could send attacks at him. Quickly, I sent a lightening bolt of white at him, but it was engulfed in all that sludge and disappeared! Xantan barely flinched at the attack. I knew I had to get a stronger spell, but before I could do anything, it had launched its fire power at me and I was sent flying back, crashing into the wall.

But, I was made out of much stronger stuff than that. I got up very quickly, and sent another lightening bolt at him, but this one was bigger. It was engulfed in the oozing slime of Xantan's sickening body. He raised his hands to send another attack, but something unusual happened to my oozing opponent. Small paralysis attacks of white lightening seemed to course through his body and damage him a little bit. I didn't know where it came from, and I was just about to send another attack at him when a slightly larger paralysis attack took over him for a few seconds.

'Of course!' I said, realizing what was happening. 'My magic attacks are getting trapped in all of that sludge, so it takes longer for the attacks to reach him, but the damage seems to multiply inside all that sludge! I wonder...'

I threw some handfuls of his own sickening sludge at him and then shot a spell. The sludge, of course, landed on his body and made him look bigger and fatter. It took nearly a minute for the spell to do something, but the wait was worth it. Xantan was beginning to look a little damaged, but I knew he was faraway from defeat. As he began an icy spell, I quickly scooped up more sludge and launched it at him. He gradually began to bloat up like a sludgy balloon. By the time he had finished powering up his spell of ice, he had grown so large I was surprised he hadn't touched the ceiling yet. He released the ice spell at me, which hit me with a force that was impossible.

I realized the down part of my plan: increasing his size, of course, had increased his attack power. Grimacing, I stood up, and began shooting spells at every part of his body that I could reach. Meanwhile, Xantan the Foul had stretched out his two hands, and two spells of fire and ice began to occur. He was making the ultimate attack, and so was I.

The climax approached as both Xantan and I had gathered so much energy the walls began to shake. He put his two hands together and cupped them up, and the two forces of magic slowly began to swirl into his most powerful attack. I had sent large lightening bolts at every sludgy place of his body I could reach, and I knew that the full attack was about to come. Quickly, I pulled my cloth robes tighter and braced myself.

Xantan had powered up all his energy and the first of my lightening bolts were about to give him damage. I waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing happened. Astonished, I looked up at Xantan's face, which was high up in the air. The spells had begun! They had rushed up through his body and coursed up to his decayed head, and he was slowly being electrocuted. Before I knew it, my sickening enemy glowed up like a large light bulb, as the Life Magic coursed through his slimy veins. He shrieked in horror; a sickening shriek that sounded like sludge splattering over something.

'Noooooooooooooooooo!'

With the last of his efforts, he send his fire and ice magic at the wall, and, in a nutshell, he blew up. It was mighty BOOM, like the BOOM! that happens when you steal somebody else's artwork. Sludge splattered everywhere, but that doesn't really matter anymore. The spell that he had sent made the dank caves rumble and tumble, and it was starting to cave in! I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get out fast enough, even if I wanted to. That's when I saw it: a small, blue disc levitating at the end of Xantan's lair. It was a teleportation disc, as Eleus had explained to me. It would teleport me to the entrance of the caves, but I could only use it when I had defeated Xantan. He was already defeated, so I quickly dashed towards it.

Halfway there, I tripped over something. Cursing, I got up, and brushed as much slime as I could off myself. I retraced my steps to see what I had tripped over, and I found it: a small, grey ring covered in slime. I probably wouldn't even had noticed it if it wasn't radiating a small, stormy-coloured light. I picked it up and brushed off all the slime and put it in my pack. I could admire it later, but first I had to get out of there before I was buried in slime and dirt forever.

When I had finally reached the teleportation disc, most of the pillars in Xantan's lair had already tumbled and crumbled. I turned around to see the wreck one last time, and as I turned back towards the teleportation disc, I heard a small whisper echo throughout the hall, bouncing off the walls like extremely goopy slime would.

'I will return...'

The ladder was nearly gone when I had reached the cave entrance. The black of night-time shined down from the opening as I jumped on to it and climbed frantically. The ascent didn't take long, and soon I was feeling the crisp, fresh air of the evening on my face. It felt so cool and relaxing after my long journey inside the horrible Dank Caves.

And now that it had caved in, there wasn't much of a chance that I had to go back in that mess.

And then I remembered Rikti.

'Oh no!' I cried, remembering. 'Rikti!'

'Um,' said a small voice behind me. 'I'm alright,'

I wheeled around and saw the figure of the small, Red Korbat. He was able to properly move again, as he waved at me.

'Thank you for worrying about me,' he said. 'I really appreciate you saving me from the clutches of that- thing.'

'Hey, no worries, eh?' I said. I looked back in the distance at Neopia City, which was pretty nearby.

'Well, I think I'll stick around here, in the Hills of Jub,' said the Korbat. 'I don't have much better to do, and I don't want to go back home,'

But before I could ask where exactly he lived, the figure of Eleus Batrin and Choras Tillie appeared out of nowhere. 'You're alright!' exclaimed the Kyrii. 'You're perfectly alright!'

'See, I told you he could do it,' said Choras, grinning. 'Well done, kid,'

'Well, it wasn't easy,' I said, exhausted. 'But I'm glad that's all over,'

'You must come back with me to Neopia City!' said Eleus, grabbing my paw. 'Come on; let's move before anything attacks us,'

I turned around to invite Rikti along, but he was gone. All that was left was a small piece of paper with some rapidly scribbled writing on it and the tatters of a brook-red cloak with pure stars on it. I bent to pick it up, but before I could do anything, the wind had swept it away off the hill and down to the base, where it slowly disappeared from sight.

Sighing, I walked with the Poogle and the Kyrii back to Neopia City as the first stars as the moon arose in the sky and the stars began their twinkling dance in the night of Ancient Neopia.


	3. The Jungle Ruins

I sat against a tree stump in the Grarrl Jungle. Sighing, I felt the smooth fabric of my beautiful Magic Robe, made by Choras Tillie the master armour smith of Neopia City. It was a long and hard journey obtaining the items, but I had managed it in the end.

I also reached into my pack and took out a beautiful, silver wand that pulsed with magical Life energy. It was made and given to me by Eleus Batrin, Neopia City's master weapon smith, and this one required the most dangerous item that I had to get: the Ring of Xantan, which was owned by Xantan the Foul. The decaying creature had resided at the bottom of the Dank Caves (which were now caved in and lost forever) for decades, until he was disturbed from his great rest by- me. Eleus Batrin had sent me to retrieve his magical ring and bring it to him. I did not know why, but I had done it. I could still feel the sludge of the exploding enemy hit me when I defeated him; his slimy words seep into my ears like water. I shuddered about the very thought, and then recalled what had happened after I had escaped the Dank Caves. After visiting the Choras Tillie, the armour smith, and Eleus Batrin, the weapon smith, I had come down to the Jungle Ruins at Eleus's command. Apparently, many researchers and scholars had been disappearing down here, and he wanted me to investigate. Investigating jungle ruins; stealing rings from caves; getting attacked by monsters; these were the things you could expect if you were a White Lupe pushed back in time thousands of years...

I stood up, interrupting my own thoughts. The fur on the back of my neck had stood up; I could sense something moving nearby. Quickly, I whipped out my Silver Wand and prepared to attack. The bushes that lay behind me began to rustle, as if something in them was moving. I slowly crept towards the shrubbery and blasted it away with a spell from my Silver Wand. Behind them, creeping up slowly was a huge, charcoal-black jungle zafara. Saliva came from its jaws as it reared up to attack.

As quick as a flash, I sent a spell at it. The beast fell back a tiny bit, but was back on its feet in no time. Quickly, I knew I had to do something quick before this thing ripped me into pieces.

I looked behind me. To my luck, the trees were thin in this part of the Jungle, and I could easily run through them. Wheeling around, I began to run away from the Zafara.

A loud ROAR! from behind told me that the jungle zafara was chasing me. Jungle zafaras can run for days without really getting tired, and this hideous creation was no exception. I ran as fast as I can through the trees, leaving their leaves flying. The Jungle Zafara, however, simply burnt all the leaves out of the way with a small fire attack made from its breath. If it actually managed to touch my skin, I knew that I would probably get set on fire. The more dangerous part I overlooked was the fact that Jungle Zafara might actually manage to set the whole Jungle on fire!

I continued to run as fast as my legs would carry me, while the Jungle Zafara roared and howled behind me. As I progressed, I noticed that the sun was shining brightly between two trees in front of me. It must have been a clearing in the Jungle, because the trees usually stopped must sunlight from reaching the forest floor.

Puffing, I broke through the density of the growth into a grove bathed with sunlight. I couldn't see if the clearing was large or small, because a huge, ruined structure blocked most of it from view. This must have been the Jungle Ruins that Eleus had told me to go find! I knew that this must be it, so I blasted away the rotting doors and leaped inside.

It was dark and musty on the ground floor. Small rays of sunlight drafted in through the holes on the walls and the ceiling. Ivy and vines covered must of the statues that lined the path to a small staircase that went upwards.

I almost sat down and began to relax when I remembered that the Jungle Zafara was still after my blood. Quickly, I raced down the aisle and sprang up the staircase, as the beast, standing at the bottom step, was spluttering and spitting from its jaws in anger.

Panting, I ran along the first floor. It was very dusty and the smell of rot could be smelt around the rooms. I didn't encounter any monsters; whether it was some ancient magic or they couldn't climb the stairs, I didn't know, but I didn't care. Most of the floor was a big maze, and nothing interesting was in it.

I was just about to go downstairs again when I saw a portly Blue Bruce dressed like a wizard. He was reading into a huge, leather-bound tomb, which consisted of many different mythical characters and ruins. I stepped up towards him, but before I could reach him, he twirled around.

'Oh! Hello!' he said warmly. 'Didn't see you coming there!'

I was silent for a few seconds in amazement: this was the first living thing to actually talk to me and not rage war over me for a long time. I could only splutter out, stupidly, 'Who are you?'

'Oh, yes, allow me to introduce myself,' said the Bruce. 'I am Denethir the Scholar of the Jungle Ruins, at your service!'

'Um, okay,' I began, but I didn't know what to say. 'W-what do you do here?'

'Hmmmm,' thought the Bruce. 'I have been studying all of these books,' (he pointed at the bookshelves behind him) 'and I have concluded that these Jungle Ruins are rotten, decaying things and could fall apart at any second!'

'That's interesting,' I said again. 'Anything else that you've found?'

Denethir looked thoughtful. 'Well, there was something,' he said slowly. 'After reading many a book, I have discovered something called the Gaia Wands. Apparently, these wands are magical items that were made by the old natives of these ruins long ago, and none of them have been seen for quite a while. However, after careful research, I have finally found the closest way to recreate the Volcano, Glacier, Storm, Mountain, or Nature Wand, as long as you can bring me the correct items.'

'And what are those?' I asked, thoughtful.

'Hmm, well it really depends on what type of wand you want,' replied Denethir, consulting his books. 'Since you have a Silver Wand, I think that you must major in Life Magic, so the Nature Wand is for you. The items needed include the claw of a jungle beast, a glowing stone, the mane of a noil, a set of shoulder patrons, and the Staff of Ni-Tas. The monsters that held the exact items long since have died, but that's as close as I can get. All of these items can be found in the dungeons of these ruins, which are supposed to be completely INFESTED with wild and dangerous beasts. Personally, I'm afraid to go down there, but if you can manage to get all those items and survive, I'd be happy to make you a Nature Wand.'

My mind and face were blank after this offer. 'Sure!' I said. 'I'll- I'll be glad to,'

'Good!' Denethir clapped his wands together. 'Very good! Now, run along; I must study this new-found book some more. Oh, and one more thing: these Ruins do go up some more, but when I tried to ascend, I came to a locked door. I read somewhere that there are three keys to these doors, and they can all be found in the dungeons somewhere. If you can find them, then you can explore the upstairs some more. Ta-ta!'

Still a bit confused, I descended down the stairs. On the ground floor, I didn't really encounter any monsters, but just in case, I ran across it to a small hallway. Denethir had said that this hallway led downstairs, to the three dungeons that provided homes for dozens and dozens of monsters. As quietly as possible, as if not to disturb anything, I leaped down them as nimble as you may please.

I jumped the last two steps and landed on the floor on my two back feet. Dust rose from the ground up towards the ceiling when I hit my destination. Coughing, I stood up, and spied a staircase in the distance. I made a move to run towards it, but before I could reach it, a large earthquake began to occur. Dust shook off the ceilings; the walls began to shudder; crates from a room faraway began to fall over. I ran frantically around everywhere, but then I realized that it wasn't an earthquake at all. It was a giant stomping its large, fat feet. The PLOP! PLOP! STOMP! sound came from somewhere in the dungeons, and it was moving towards me! I continued to run frantically around in circles, and then made a dash for the stairs. However, before I could reach them, a short but powerful Meepit with fat hanging from its body came PLOP! PLOP! STOMP!ing down a nearby passage.

'Who goes there?' said a loud, gruff voice. '

'Um, no one,' I answered, but then I realized that it was a very dumb thing to do. In seconds, the figure had reached me, blocking the way down the stairs.

'You foolish 'heroes!'' it said, disgusted. 'When will you ever learn to leave me in peace?

If you're not going to, then I'll have to put you to peace! I, Kreai, chief of the pygmies, will teach you a lesson once and for all!'

The Meepit cupped its hands together and began forming a small ball of ice magic. I took out my silver wand and shot some spells at him, but it didn't affect him very much. I didn't know what else I could do, so I just kept shooting silver sparks of magic at the hideous creature. Its angry eyes got angrier with each shot, and I could almost feel the anger emit from his body. By the time it had finished working on its ice attack, its head had began to chance colour from pink to purple.

'You shall pay for all that nonsense!' It roared. With all its strength, Kreai sent the icy attack towards me. I dodged it, and the attack crashed into a statue, causing it to crumble into small pieces of broken ice.

'So, a naughty little Neopet you are, eh?' Kreai said, chuckling. 'I HATE NAUGHTY!'

It cupped its hands together once more, and sent out a shock of lightening towards me. I jumped to evade it, but I wasn't fast enough: it hit me with such a powerful force I was stunned. Though it didn't hurt me, I was paralyzed, and couldn't move.

'Aww; the litter trickster is too tired to move!' the pygmy chief said in a mock-sympathetic voice. 'Well, maybe I'll make that PERMANENT!'

He raised his hands to attack, but something strange happened: a statue that came from absolutely nowhere hit Kreai on the head. 'Hey, what the-' began the pygmy, but before he could say anything else, crates and statues that had appeared out of thing air began hitting him on the head repeatedly.

'Ow- ow- OW!- ow- YOUCH!- ow!' And there is no need to tell you anything more, only that the villain dropped dead on the ground with a loud THUMP! that sent a piece of ceiling on top of him, squashing the angry little Meepit flat. It was officially gone, and I felt free to see if he had dropped anything.

Scooping up some healing potions and a rotting piece of armour, I turned to leave, when I noticed a small, unusual object lying next to the piece of ceiling. Stepping closer towards it, I noticed that it was a Rotten Wooden Key.

'_...these ruins do go up some more, but when I tried to ascend, I came to a locked door. I read somewhere that there are three keys to these doors, and they can all be found in the dungeons somewhere..._'

The three keys! This gross and strange item must have been the first of the keys that Denethir had been talking about! Picking it up, I dumped it, along with the healing potions, into my pack and carried on towards the stairs. Slowly, I made the descent into the second dungeon: the dungeon of who-knows-where. Could there be another angry little monster waiting for me in this dungeon?

'Never mind about little, then' I said to myself as I looked past a whole city of chairs. It had been a long, grueling maze of teleporters and more, but I had finally made it to my destination: the end of a dungeon that led to who-knows-where. I was dreadfully tired after my descent down here: first, I had to weave around a maze of chairs, barrels, tables, and more; then I had to have my molecules transferred via teleporters, while fighting off dozens and dozens of monsters. I longed to see daylight, and the sight of a beautiful sunset without any monsters waiting to pounce behind my back.

The most interesting thing that had happened all this long time was the founding of the hidden classroom in the dungeon after the Teleporters.

I was dreadfully tired from everything I had done so far on this day. I didn't want to go on, but I had to. When I had finally made it out of the teleporter maze, I was so happy it's not possible to describe it in words. Though I was still getting bombarded with monsters of all shapes and sizes, one of the worst parts of these Ruins were over- or was it?

It was quiet in the second dungeon- too quiet. Well, quiet if you exclude all the monsters, but those don't really count. I had only caught a glimpse of a garden before I was pulled one side into a dark hallway. In the gloom, I made out a small Kacheek dressed in a Moon Superhero Costume.

'Shhh,' he coaxed. 'My name's Tylix, and you're not to be afraid of me. Come with me!'

It led me into a room opposite the wall we were hiding against now. The Kacheek opened the door, yanked me inside, and closed it. A Lenny dressed like a teacher quickly strode over towards them, took out a rusty key, and looked the door. It was almost completely dark, except for an oil lantern that sat on a table. I studied the room: it was filled with chairs on one end. At the other, it there was a desk with a chair behind it, and that chair was now occupied by the Lenny Teacher. There was no doubt that this room was a classroom.

'It's a good thing we rescued you!' said the Lenny. 'I'm Margoreth, the Teacher, and this is my student Tylix.'

'Pleased to meetcha!' said the Kacheek.

'Well, I-' I began, but I didn't know what to say. To make a quick recovery, I stammered,

'I need to go on down that hallway towards whatever creature lay at the end. I need to! It's my mission!'

Margoreth and Tylix looked at me as if I was crazy.

'Do you know what lies at the bottom of this 'ere dungeon?' Tylix asked me seriously.

'Um-'

'It's Gors the Mighty!' screamed Margoreth, all of a sudden.

'It very well is Gor-'

'No, Tylix, I mean that Gors the Mighty is RIGHT OUSIDE IN THE HALLWAY!'

The oil lantern went out. A great stomping began from the outside, in the hallway. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The chairs on the floor all fell, tipping over like rows of dominoes.

'No! My chairs!' the teacher cried. She desperately tried a vain attempt to save some of them, but nothing happened. Sighing, Margoreth plopped down on her desk and tried to re-light the oil lantern.

'Quick! Come with me!' Tylix said urgently. He grabbed two chairs and then headed for the door.

'HEE HAI HO HUM!' said a loud, booming voice behind the door. 'THERE ARE THREE AND NOT ONE!'

'What's that supposed to mean?' I asked him without thinking.

'Ah, bleh at this stupid speech,' said the voice again. 'Now I shall break down the door and attack you.'

And he very well did. A loud BAM! BAM! BAM! followed by a CRACK! and the door was gone. The dim light from the doorway was blocked by a large, mutated figure. It had a huge body and a rather small head, which was set to an expression of anger and fury. In its hand was a thick, wooden staff the size of a log.

'Come out! Now!' it boomed. The creature was too large to fit inside the room, so I assumed that we were all safe, and of course I was right. 'Only one of you. NOW!'

We looked frantically around. There wasn't anything that we could possibly do; the lantern was out and there wasn't another exit from the room.

'Aha!' shouted Margoreth from her desk. 'I've got the lantern working again!'

'Good!' Tylix ran up to his teacher's desk, grabbed the oil lantern, and chucked it at the doorway.

'YOUCH!' the thing said as the oil lantern hit its skin. His blubber was too strong for a simple oil lantern to actually harm him, but it did leave a burning scar. 'How dare you burn Gors the Mighty!'

Gors raised his large staff and began beating it at the classroom. BAM! BAM! BAM! Bricks from the ceiling fell off; more chairs were broken. Margoreth screamed so loudly that the chalkboard suddenly snapped in half and fell off the wall.

'Run for your lives!' Tylix commanded, ushering us all out the door. 'Run!'

There wasn't anything else to be done. Swiftly, we raced to the exit, and burst out just as the entire room behind us fell.

'My classroom!' sobbed Margoreth, sitting down against a wall. 'My books! My chairs!'

But Gors the Mighty couldn't care less about a stupid little teacher who worries about wooden chairs. He raised his staff to attack, but-

'Don't you dare!' said a blur that came from no where. Before I knew it, Tylix was spinning all around Gors the Mighty, as fast as lightening bolt. 'Don't you dare touch her!'

'Oh, so the little student's going to try and protect his teacher!' Gors said in a mocking tone. 'YOU SHALL DIE!'

The mutated pygmy began to raise his arm to strike the Kacheek with a spell, but Tylix leaped off Gors's body just in time. He ended up whacking a small pigment of wooden chair, which drove deep into his skin.

'OWWW!' Gors screamed in agony. He began to swing his large staff everywhere, and everywhere he swung it Tylix was sure to be, planting another broken wooden shard into the beast's body.

Some time later, shards of wood had been poked into the mutant's body at almost every place on his body. The pain was just too much for him; he dropped his Staff (which I caught) and began walking dazedly towards the remains of the classroom.

'Quickly!' Tylix shouted at me, kicking, with all his strength, Gors the Mighty into the classroom. 'Do something!'

I raised Gors's own staff at pointed it at the ceiling above the classroom. Concentrating all my thoughts on a single spell completely bent on destruction, I sent a small, red orb of energy at that area.

It hit the ceiling right on target. The classroom began to shudder, and then cave in. A horrible shrieking came from within the ruins.

'Noooo!' A loud shouting came from within. 'NOOOO! I WAS MEANT TO BE THE RULER OF THIS PLACE! NOT ROLLAY! NOT ROLLAY!'

Bricks and rubble fell into the already-ruined room where Gors the Mighty was slowly perishing. Noticing a small, silver horned key lying next to the rubble, I quickly bent and snatched it from the ground.

Just as we stopped to catch our breath, something bad had to happen, of course. It began with an earthquake that rocked the dungeon, and large chunks of rock began falling from basically everyplace imaginable.

'This is just not good!' I shouted. Margoreth stood up, and Tylix was rushing towards her.

'Come on!' he yelled. 'This way! To Gors's Garden!'

Following the Kacheek, I ran out of the Hallway and turned into a beautiful garden. At the very end, the city of chairs had disappeared after Gors had fallen in the rubbish. They were replaced by a small, green Kiko who looked very old. She looked slightly deranged.

'Eeek! Rollay is coming! ROLLAY SCALEBACK IS COMING! Somebody help me!'

'We're coming!' Tylix shouted, but before he could do anything, all of the bodies of water in the garden began to glow green. It would have been beautiful if what happened afterwards hadn't happened: lizards, gross, slimy lizards of all shapes and elements, began climbing out of the water. They peered around menacingly, and I could make out three types of them: fire, ice, and shock.

'Look out!' A fire lizard had just sent a flamethrower towards Margoreth. She jumped to avoid it, but her dress got caught on fire.

'Look what you've done! Pioggia!'

A small rain cloud hovered over her dress and the fire went out. A shock lizard took an opportunity and shot a spell of lightening at the Lenny.

'Ack! No! NO!' the enraged teacher yelled out a spell in a tongue that is unspeakable to any nowadays, and an icy lizard came flying in front of her. The shock lizard zapped the icy lizard silly, and they both looked at each angrily. Then, they leapt at each other and managed to delve themselves into a horrible catfight. The rest of their species came to watch, except for the fire lizards. They didn't want to feel left out, so they joined in, flaming everything that they could reach. Margoreth took this opportunity and screamed, 'Raggruppare a parte!'

A shiny dome surrounded the huge battle. It slowly began to shake, rain, and spit out flames all at the same time. Before I knew it, all of the lizards were gone, with only items lying on the floor. I ran up to pick them and pack them away; I hadn't forgotten that Gaia Wand Quest.

'We've defeated your lizards, Rollay!' Margoreth shouted in a strange voice. 'Reveal yourself now!'

As if in reply, the lakes began to emit sickening, green light again. However, this time, it spread across the grasses, and they all fell away. The small ponds also disappeared, and soon the entire of Gors's magical garden was almost completely gone except for the platform in the middle and the piece of land they were all standing on, which was connected to the hallway of the main dungeon. Looking down, all anyone could see was absolutely darkness.

'Who dares interrupt me from my deep ssssleep?' a voice hissed from the darkness. 'Who daress? Who daress?'

A rushing sound began to spread throughout the dungeon, but nothing could be seen. The kiko was crouching on the platform that had once held all the chairs. A small blue disc was next to her, slightly levitating.

'Oi! Kiko!' I shouted at her. 'What's your name?'

'I'm Pommana, what's it to you?' she snapped back harshly. 'Now get me off this thing!'

'I'm afraid that's not possible,' Margoreth said gravely. 'Rollay is coming. You can't get off- yet.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Pommana screeched back. She sighed, sitting down next to the teleporter. 'This is why I never went to school.'

There wasn't anything we could really do about her, so she was just left aside. The rushing sound began to get louder now, and all of a sudden, a large geyser had erupted from far, far down the dungeon, and it was strong enough to reach all the way up to the main floor of Dungeon 2. But once you've seen what's ON that geyser, then you probably won't be busy pondering how it got all the way up here.

A figure that looked like a giant, white lizard wearing a rotting shirt and a medallion

around its neck was looking at us with the expression of great rage and fury.

'Who daresss to awake Rollay Sssscaleback from his deep ssssleep?' it hissed.

Everybody looked around at one another. There wasn't really a direct answer to that. I knew that we had to do something, even if it did have consequences.

'I do!' I stepped up. looking the freaky creature in the eye. 'And I'm ready to fight!'

'Very well then,' it hissed. Rollay waved its hands around in a swift motion, and soon, many, many geysers had sprung up from somewhere in a deeper dungeon. They seemed to form a small, watery battlefield in mid-air.

'Step forward, small challenger, and encounter the wrath of Rollay Scaleback!'

I grabbed my Silver Wand and held it in ready, while Rollay prepared for battle. Tylix and Margoreth looked slightly worried, but somehow they knew I could do it. I shot a spell at the hideous antagonist, and it seemed to affect him a lot. However, the sly creature merely smiled and raised his arms in the air. Small, white crystals began forming in his hands, and he released them. They sparkled over his body, and suddenly he looked a lot healthier.

'You do not know the beginning of my powers!'

Rollay Scaleback sent a lightening bolt at my body. It hit me, and stunned me. This was worse than Kreai's, for it was much more powerful. I was worried, but I knew I couldn't give up- yet. Rollay then sent another attack at me. The geysers, I hoped, must be strong enough to hold me and not let me fall. Hopefully, anyhow.

'Take that, you filthy little creature!' The enemy shot many more attacks at me. I winced in pain, as bruises and cuts began forming on my body. I didn't know how much longer I could last, as Margoreth and Tylix began running back to the mainland. I didn't know why, but with the last of my strength, I saw a Bruce dressed like a wizard run up to the last remaining area of Gors's garden. He looked worried, but he was smiling.

'Lupe!' Denethir shouted. 'Toss me the items! The items!'

I sprang up with renewed confidence and hope. The Gaia Wands! They must be much stronger than my Silver Wand. Looking into my pack, I drew out a Jungle Beast Claw, a Noil Tooth, a set of Jungle Pauldrons, a small, Glowing Stone, and finally, the most crucial item- the ancient Staff of Ni-Tas, which used to belong to Gors the Mighty.

I tossed them over to Denethir, which was basically a big challenge for me. He caught all the items with a spell, and then began to work on my new Gaia wand. He raised the Staff of Ni-Tas into the air and spread all of the other items over it in a swift hand motion and spell, so they floated in mid-air. Then, he yelled, 'Combinare la sua magia!' The items began glowing, and the Staff of Ni-tas, from the jewel at the end, released another wand; a smaller wand. The collected items broke up into small particles and went inside the newly formed staff, and a large flash of white light blinded everybody for a few seconds. And then, the spell was complete. The weapon was complete. My hope was once again complete.

'The Nature Wand!' Denethir said proudly. 'Here! Catch!'

He tossed it in the air towards me. I caught it with my paw, and admired its beauty, from the small, green leaf at the end and the white light that it seemed to produce on its own.

'Enough of this magical nonsense!' Rollay yelled. 'Get on with the battle!'

I sent multiple attacks at him with the new Gaia wand. They hit him one by one, but before he had time to heal, I healed first. It was the special ability of the Gaia Wand, as all of them had some special technique. My cuts and bruises instantly healed, and I felt myself grow much stronger.

'You are a mutated freak of nature, and I hope that I never have to see you again!' I yelled at Rollay. With that, I sent a HUGE flash of white lightening at the creature, and it hit him with the force of the forgotten magic of a Gaia Wand.

The fight was over. Rollay Scaleback fell back, coughing; barely breathing. The geysers were starting to die out, as Rollay slowly died. I jumped back on to land, as he lay down in pain. With the last of his strength, he pulled the Medallion and a small, shiny key from his neck.

'Have- have these,' he said. The dying creature threw the items at me, which I quickly caught before they fell. 'F-find Korabric. T-tell him I'm ssssorry...'

With that, his final geyser fell, and Rollay Scaleback fell into the darkness of the chasm, to be gone forever. I watched as his body slowly fell down into the darkness; deeper, deeper, deeper, until he was visible no more. Rollay Scaleback was gone. Forever.

'Oh, so now you suppose I should thank you for getting rid of that freak?' said an angry voice behind me. I was brought back to Earth by Pommana's argument with Margoreth. 'If it wasn't because of you, he would never have destroyed this stupid place anyhow!'

'Oh, don't back-talk me!' the teacher yelled. 'You're in detention!'

'I'm 56-years old! I do not go to detention! This is why I never went to school!'

'You're EXPELLED!'

'You're not a principal!

'Who says?'

'I said!'

'Ladies, ladies, quiet down!' Denethir looked slightly worried at the sight of both of them.

'Let's just take this teleporter and leave. Lupe, are you coming?'

'Oh, uh, yes,' I ran up to the levitating blue disc Pommana had brought along when she floated across the chasm. 'Yes, I am.'

'Alright, on the count of three... one, two, three, GO!'

And with that, everybody jumped into the mysterious object and teleported out of the Dungeon of the Jungle Ruins.

'Well, that was certainly a ride,' Denethir said, all pouring them tea and giving Margoreth a scroll to read. 'I don't think anyone of us (except for Lupe) might have another adventure like that!'

The teleporter had teleported them to Denethir's room in the tower. We were all sitting down and relaxing, but first, I wanted some questions answered.

'Well, fire away,' said Margoreth, when I told her about my request.

'What just happened down there in the dungeons?' I pounced, with my question.

'Well, after you defeated Kreai with my help-'

'Your help?' I interrupted.

'Hey, do you think that barrels and statues float by themselves?' she asked. 'Now no more interruptions, or else you're suspended. Anyways, after you defeated Kreai, you took the Rotting Wooden Key and then proceeded downstairs. After a loud of hoolah and hoobah, you finally managed to get yourself down to Gors's the Garden, where you were drafted in by Tylix by my command. We were just about to settle down when, if you remember, Gors the Mighty suddenly appeared, carrying the Staff of Ni-Tas and swinging it around like a madman. You defeated him too, mainly with Tylix's help, and took the Silver Horned Key from him. We ran to the Garden after my classroom was destroyed,' -she wiped her eyes for a moment there at the very thought- 'and we found a bunch of Rollay's lizards coming to attack us. I managed to defeat all of them, and then the Garden disappeared after I commanded Rollay to show himself. He certainly did, and Pommana did also. You battled with him, and Denethir appeared, saying that he had managed to cast some hocus-pocus that he just found to get himself down here that fast. Just when we were all sure you were a goner, he yelled for the components to make that stick that goes BANG! and you tossed the ingredients to him. He makes a new wand, and you finally manage to defeat that- thing. He dies, you get the Rusty Medallion and the Jeweled Crystal Key, we take a teleporter, and now we're here. Does that answer your question?'

I was stunned. After hearing everything that was to be heard, I felt like a great weight had been lifted. 'I- I guess so,' I responded quietly.

'Wonderful!' Denethir clapped his hands together. 'Now, bring out those three keys!'

I reached deep down into my pack and drew out the Rotting Wooden Key, the Silver Horned Key, and the Jeweled Crystal Key.

'These three keys will allow you to unlock the locks and finally get up this wretched tower to who-knows-where to get even more answers solved!' Denethir said happily. 'Come along now; we don't have all day!'

We all finished our tea, stood up, and began to move towards the door. Denethir led the way, followed by me, with Pommana floating besides us telling us death tales that make no sense ('If you don't know what ain't up there then you don't need to know!') and screeching about how she hadn't got a moment's peace for years. ('How else do you explain all of this ugly grey hair?') Tailing behind her were Margoreth and Tylix, two exhausted Neopets who still had questions to be answered that must have been at the top of the tower.

We came to a set of stairs. Dashing up them and dashing through the floor, I saw the door that Denethir had said needed a key. I stuck the Rotting Wooden Key inside and it turned all by itself. The block swung open, revealing a small room with a set of stairs. We raced up these, in to a maze of creates and barrels ('Not again!' I groaned). Finally, we made it to a door, which opened with the Silver Horned Key. Climbing up another set of stairs, we emerged on a garden high up in the tower. Most of us were exhausted by now, but we skipped through this floor, not noticing any of the beauties in it. The final locked door, which opened with the Jeweled Crystal Key, revealed just a flight of stairs that went directly up.

Denethir warned us from the front of the group. 'Since we're out of keys, up this staircase must be the last level. Be ready for anything!'

Slowly, we climbed up into the top of the tower of the Jungle Ruins. All there was a long hall that led to a very, very old Red Korbat clutching a cane. Slowly and cautiously, we approached him. He squinted at us, and then at Pommana, and then shouted, 'You!'

Pommana was just as surprised. 'You!'

As if they had known each other from before, they quickly rushed up towards each other. 'I never thought I'd ever see you again!'

'Nor you, you crazy chef,'

'Oh, ha-ha, very funny, a real knee-slapper,'

'Let's cut this meeting short, or you're all washing the chalkboard.' Margoreth the Teacher stepped up. 'I want some answers, and I want 'em now!'

'Er, okay...' the Red Korbat said, slowly.

'Who are you?'

'I- I- I am Korabric! Wow, haven't said that name for a wh-'

Margoreth didn't wait. 'What are you doing here?'

Korabric answered, 'I was the master of this place, but ages ago. This used to be a place of learning biology and foreign plants, and the ancient world... but it was all a mistake! A big mistake!'

'What happened? Tell me now!'

The Korbat began to answer more smoothly now. 'Well, it all started when some of the

Pygmies that we had brought it began behaving a bit- unusual than their normal, peaceful selves. They began to grow vicious in their jungle tribes, and believed that they were better than us researchers! We, of course, had enough power and strength to fend them off, but then, something horrible happened: a researcher began helping them!'

'How?' asked Margoreth, beginning to look a lot calmer.

'Well, this- this traitor; he began to make vile, vicious creatures and let them loose in the caverns below. We hadn't quite finished the entire construction of that area yet, after we found a gigantic lake at the bottom. He began to interest himself in lizards and that kind of creepy thing. We used small pools of water to create new beings, but he- he used the ENTIRE lake! Can you believe him?'

'No, can you? Now, tell me who exactly this Rollay Scaleback is. He must have been the researcher, he must have been yes!'

Korabric looked stunned. 'Well, you've just answered your own question. Rollay Scaleback wanted to become a lizard himself, and over time, he probably has made the, uh, transformation. However, when he was just a normal person like, err, you and I, he was bent on destroying us all. By the time he had started his domination of this place, I couldn't fight him anymore, so I ran up to this tower and magically locked three doors behind me so that no one could be able to get to the top and find me.'

'There was this Pygmy Monster named Kreai. He had the first key!'

'Oh, Kreai... the chief of the Pygmies? He worked alongside with Rollay, but he must have left his services, thinking that he could make it on his own.'

'There was this stupid Pygmy Monster named Gors the Mighty who held the most gigantic club I've ever seen in my life. He had the second key!'

'Gors the Mighty... wow, he really is stupid, isn't he? Did he still have the Staff of Ni-Tas with him?'

'He sure did!' Denethir butted in, flashing the Staff that he still had at Korabric. 'What is this thing?'

'The Staff of Ni-Tas is a very powerful artifact brought here and given to Rollay by the Circle of Twelve. I don't know why, but I think that they are all fools- all dead, stupid fools. Anything else you need to know?'

A light bulb suddenly sprang up in my thoughts. 'Oh! Yes! Could you tell me what this medallion that Rollay had is?'

I drew out the rusty medallion Rollay had thrown at me. Korabric examined it carefully, though his eyesight was probably terrible. 'I have no clue what the markings on this thing say,' he said after a very long time. 'But you said Rollay had it? I don't know how he could have gotten it, but it pulses with ancient energy... if you go back to Neopia City you should have Eleus Batrin, the weapon-smith, check it out.'

'Well, that solves all our problems... you are free to leave,' said Margoreth. 'What are you going to do now?'

'Are you leaving?' Korabric said, standing up. 'I'll come with you! You know how dull it

is, just standing here and remembering my own name, year after year after year, with no visitors? I'll finally be freed of this place!'

'Hmmm, I guess you can-' began Margoreth, but Korabric had turned around and began pulling something. With one good tug he managed to get it out, and we all saw that it was a blue teleportation device.

'Jump in! This will get us all the way back to Neopia City! I've been dying to use it, but I need more than one person...'

'This has been a great adventure, and none of us will ever forget it!' Denethir said

grandly. 'Now, when we get back to Neopia City, each and every one of us should get rest, so-'

'Yeah yeah yeah, just shut it,' said Tylix, exhausted. He pushed the Bruce into the Teleporter, and he disappeared.

'Tylix! You're in detention for pushing a poor, helpless little Neopet!' said Margoreth, pushing a poor helpless little Neopia (Tylix) into the blue disc.

'That is no way to treat your children!' said Pommana, pushing Margoreth in.

'That IS no way to treat your children!' said Korabric, grabbing Pommana's paw and jumping with her into the teleporter.

I took one good look at the dusty, musty room around me. Sighing, I said, 'Good-bye Jungle Ruins... forever.'


	4. The Temple of Roo

The sun was shining as it slowly rose through the sky in Neopia City. I stepped outside Neopia Palace and stretched, looking out on the horizon. It was hard to believe that I had arrived here in Ancient Neopia only five days ago, and have already accomplished so much. First, it may have taken an entire day inside the Dank Caves, but I had defeated Xantan the Foul and acquired his magical ring. Then, after facing many horrors inside the Jungle Ruins, I, with the help of some friends, killed a pygmy chief, an idiotic mutant, and a psycho researcher. And now, standing outside with my Nature Wand, I felt extremely refreshed. My desire to journey was renewed, and I was ready to set off to- to- well, exactly where, I didn't know yet. Eleus Batrin, the town's master weapon smith, had told me to come and meet him here at the crack of dawn. So, here I am, just waiting for him.

It was nearly morning before an old Kyrii stepped outside of Neopia Palace. I ran up to meet Eleus, who smiled warmly at me.

'You have come a long way,' he said, patting me on the back. 'You have defeated many monsters and rescued many people. I commend you,'

He bowed down at my feet. 'Errr, thanks, I guess,' I stuttered modestly. 'But what should I do now? Where are the others?'

'I think you will be pleased to know that Tylix, Margoreth, Pommana, and Korabric are all snoozing soundly inside the building right next to us. It hasn't been used in quite a while, and they are interested in making another research facility, if smaller, to replace the Jungle Ruins.' Eleus answered. 'In the meantime, yes... your next quest. Margoreth mentioned something about a Medallion that Rollay Scaleback gave to you before he died?'

I remembered: the Rusty Medallion that the creature used to wear around its neck. I drew it out from my pack. The string was still there so I could still wear it around my neck if I tied the two ends together, but it was still slimy and rusty, so I kept it with all my other items. The weapon smith took it from my paw, inspecting it closely.

'This medallion does have some a scripture on it,' he said finally. 'But I cannot decipher it. However, I do know someone who might be able to... Gali Yoj, my teacher. She could probably translate it for you. Gali Yoj lives in a place called Sunny Town, far, far away. Just take a left at the Spooky Forest and go south through the Swamp. From there, you'll have to ask somebody for the 411 on how to get there, because I have no clue what lies past there.'

I left Neopia City by breakfast. For the past hour, I had heard dire warnings about what lies west of the town, and it was really starting to get tiring.

'Undead monsters haunt the plains!' An old man said.

'My wife was taken in by a swamp beast!' another one said.

'My son was taken by things!' a rather deranged old lady screamed.

So far, I had made it all the way out back to the Hills of Jub, but I hadn't encountered anything new- yet. Undead monsters apparently roamed the area, but I had yet to see one. Soon, I was far, far away from Neopia City and approaching the end of the Hills of Jub.

'Where could those things be?' I wondered aloud. 'Where?'

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the small Red Korbat sitting at the top of the hill I was climbing. However, he noticed me.

'You!' exclaimed a small voice from my left. I turned and saw- Rikti the Korbat! Rikti was a lost adventurer who had been trapped in the Dank Caves by Xantan the Foul's horrible magic. After I rescued him, he said that he was going to stick around the Hills of Jub some more.

'Didn't you receive my note?' he asked, leaping up.

I shook my head. 'What note?'

'The note! It had a bit of Xantan's Cape stuck to it! Did you not see it?'

I shook my head again. Suddenly, the wind began to pick up, and a piece of paper that was attached to a piece of brook coloured cloak with little purple stars on it slapped me in the face. 'Youch!' I shouted, grabbing it off my cheek.

I studied it a bit. Then I realized: it was that piece of paper I had seen when I came out of the Dank Caves! It had gotten blown away by the wind, and the breeze must have taken it through the Hills until it finally reached- here!

'Well, read it!' Rikti commanded.

I looked at the note, peeling it off Xantan's Cape. Placing the small piece of cloth into my pack, I began to read,

'Lupe, I will be roaming around the Hill of Jub for a little while. The next time you are passing this way, please take me with you back to my hometown, Swamp Edge City. I'm sure that my brother misses me dearly. I shall be waiting at the most north-western hill of the Hills of Jub, because once you get off it, you're in the Haunted Plains. Cheers! -Rikti'

I quickly looked past Rikti the bottom of the hill. Sure enough, there were the plains. The note had said that it was the beginning of the Haunted Plains- and they sure seemed a bit haunted. A light fog lingered through the area, and the grass was charcoal black.

'Well, if we're going to get through there before nightfall, then let's hurry!'

And with that, Rikti took off down the hill. I quickly ran to follow my temporary companion, so that he didn't trip and do a back flip down the hill. The last thing I needed was to have to carry him through this weird place and that dreaded swamp everybody was talking about.

'Hehehehe, this is fun- YOUCH! I think I'm going to trip and do a back flip down the hill, so somebody'll have to carry me through that weird place and the dreaded swamp everybody is talking about!'

And sure enough, that's exactly what Rikti did. He tripped over a dead root, did a back flip down the hill, and needed somebody to carry him. Sighing, I reached the base and hoisted him up on my shoulders. The young Korbat's body was slightly cold, but he wasn't dead- yet.

I quickly ran through the Haunted Plains as fast as I could. I was attacked by undead monsters, but I simply gave them a taste of my Nature Wand. Its light perished in the fog, as the mist began to get deeper the more I ran through it. Soon, I was dreadfully tired, and wanted to lie down on the ground. A small forest lay next to me, which was completely filled with the fog. This must be the Spooky Forest, as someone in town mentioned.

Rikti woke up. He shook his small head and leaped off my back. 'Wow! That was fun! Can we do it again?'

Sighing, I stood up very reluctantly. Looking up, I noticed that the fog was starting to clear in one area. Squinting even more, with my eyes, I could just make out the characteristics of a swampy land. The Swamp! I had finally reached it!

'The Swamp! We're nearly there to my home town!' Rikti cheered, jumping up. I quickly ran towards it, with Rikti right behind me.

Sure enough, we had found the exit! Bursting through the land of nearly-impossible sight, we were faced with: swamp. Swamp as far as the eye could see, with a hint of a small plain somewhere along the horizon. Rikti was much more excited than I was.

'Come on! This way!' The energetic Korbat led the way as he skipped through the muck in the south-east direction. Quickly, I followed him, stomping and splashing mud everywhere, sending mud and the occasional burst of water flying through my wake.

The journey through the swamp was messy and disgusting, but better than the Haunted Plains. The Swamp Vines and the occasional Krawk were the only monsters that we could see, and they weren't too difficult after what I had been through. With my help, Rikti also progressed with me, leading the way. With each track through the ick, he seemed to become happier, as if he was finally home.

After about half an hour of tracking, we had finally reached his destination: a series of mountains to the west side of the swamp. The sight of the small stretch of plains was basically right in front of us now. The grass did not hide what lay beyond: a huge stretch of desert that went far beyond the horizon.

'This way!' the young Korbat cried. Small foothills bumped through the mountains and led to the other edge of it. Eager to get out of the muck, I followed him as he dashed through the evaluated land as nimble as an elf.

It wasn't long before a small city loomed into sight. Rikti practically jumped up and down in glee.

'Swamp Edge City! My home! My house! My brother!'

With that, I realized that the lost young adventurer had finally made it home. But what was this place?

'I would just like to thank you again for bringing Rikti home!'

A gracious Red Korbat, considerably larger than Rikti, sat down at inside his kitchen on a wooden stool. Beside him sat Rikti and I, all sipping water and making conversation with the host, Mokti.

'Really, it was no problem,' I said modestly for probably the 10th time. 'I know that Rikti means a lot to you, I guess...'

'He sure does! I've been using his room for a guest bedroom for months now... I guess it will be put to better use now, eh?'

Mokti slapped Rikti on the pack, causing the young Korbat to spurt out his mouthful of water. Choking, he said, 'I'm never going adventuring again... I'll tell you what happened later, I guess...'

'Well, what should I do now?' I was eager to continue on my quest to Sunny Town.

'I don't know, really. Did you say something about any cities to the south? Well, to the south of this swamp lies the Desert of Roo, stretching as far as the eye can see. I have once attempted to go through it to see what lay at the other side, but after three days of fruitless walking, I knew that my destination, whatever it might be, was probably hopeless. I have heard from many travelers that what lay beyond a small stretch of plain at the end were some maze-like caves and nestled somewhere inside them was a small village. Rumor has it that it's on a cliff right next to the sea, so it's sunny there all the time.'

Sunny all the time... Sunny Town! That must be it.

'Thanks a million,' I thanked. 'But I really must be going now.'

I turned to leave, but Mokti suddenly shouted, 'Oh wait! I'd like to give you a little something other than my thanks for bringing my little bro back...'

The Korbat ran up to me and pressed a light cloth into my hands. It was brook-red in colour, and I realized that it was a new set of robes. 'This is the Sorcerous Robe,' Mokti explained. 'Your current one is looking a bit shabby... you should really thank old Leirobas for them... and to think, all he really wanted was a junky generator...'

'Err, thanks, I guess...' I trailed off, trying to think of something to say. 'Who's Leirobas?'

'Crankiest dude in town... I wouldn't visit him at this hour, if you don't want to get blasted out his door as soon as you put in as much as the tip of your tail. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, drop by! You're always welcome here.'

'Thanks, again-' I began, but Mokti pushed me at the door.

'I'd just like to thank you again, but I REALLY need some time to discuss certain issues with my brother...'

Mokti shot a dark look at Rikti before bidding me good-bye once more and then slamming the door in my face.

I leaped out of the swamp to the plains beyond. I was exhausted, grieving after a narrow escape from a HUGE poisonous vine at the end of the swamp. Sighing, I glanced up at the morning sun which was slowly rising. An Ancient Neopian noon was approaching, and temperatures were probably going to go to boiling.

Glancing at the desert, I took my first step on to the sand. It felt like just what I had predicted it would: burning hot, like coals at my feet. I lifted it up again in pain. What was I to do?

I sat down on the grass. Small, flat stones lay all around the small plain, littering one section. I picked them up, and they felt very as light as a feather. Staring across the sand again, I threw the stone at the golden hot mess and it landed perfectly on a small patch of sand.

And that's when the idea came to me: stepping stones! I could use the stones as stepping stones to get across the desert! Quickly, I scooped up all the stones I could find and dumped them into my bag. I leaped on to the first stepping stone, with one foot in the air.

My idea was a success. I wasn't touching the flaming sand and I could get through the desert this way. It was like stepping on paper plates on the ground, or flat fish across water. I didn't know exactly which way to head, but a small speck of grey had appeared could just faintly be seen through the wild golden yonder. So, that's where I was headed, south-west from the plains towards what was most probably the middle of the desert.

Two either sides of me there stood water, which didn't really make since as it was a desert. The monsters were all gruesome and hideous, but they were just like the swamp beasts: easy enough to beat. The sun was setting by the time I had finally reached the grey speck, which turned out to be a ring of mountains. The air started to get cooler just when I had run out of flat rocks. Grateful, I stepped on to the sand, which was stone cold. Dashing, I ran around the mountains and into the ring, expecting to see something hideously strange, but I didn't get it. All there was a small cavern that appeared to lead downward, reminding me of the Dank Caves.

'Hello, what's this?' I said to myself. By the dying rays, I peered down it. All I could see was a landing of dirt and dust, with the occasional THUMP! of what sounded like monsters from far below.

All of a sudden, there came a huge THUMP! from behind me. My feet seemed to have grown wheels now, and it was lucky they were like that: one second more of delay would have gotten me killed by a huge dust mummy. Now that it was cool, the beast could finally roam around the Desert of Roo.

'UGH ROOOOOOAR!' it shouted in an undead-ish way.

'What?' I asked it, but that probably wasn't a good thing to do. If there's one thing I've learned from all of this, then I've learned it: Never provoke undead creatures, such as mummies.

'GRRRR!' It shouted its war cry and then came charging towards me!

'This is so not good,' I said to myself. Looking behind me, the huge hole made a gigantic gap in the ground, leading down to... where? I do not know, but I had to do something before it killed me.

'Well, I know it's not good to provoke you, but I'll say it anyways: Seeya later loser!'

And with that, I jumped down the tunnel into the Temple of Roo.

'Luce!' I whispered in the darkness.

My Nature Wand lit up the dark, dank tunnel that I was in. It definitely reminded me of the Dank Caves now. Just thinking about my experience there made me shudder, and I hoped that this adventure wouldn't turn out like that one...

I began my trek down the small maze of tunnels. The THUMP!s I had heard from above were silenced, but I had the odd feeling that something strange lay ahead of me.

Sure enough, when I had reached a place where I could see an actual stone floor, a small deranged Cybunny sat at the exit, as if guarding the way.

'Eh?... Who's there...'

I blacked out my wand's light and stepped out of the shadows.

'I'm... well, I forgot who I am so long ago it's lost interest in telling people that, but let's move on to more important issues: Who are you?'

The Cybunny looked stunned. 'Well... I'm Erick, I guess... can you do me a favor?'

Now it was my turn to be taken aback, but without really realizing what I was saying, I answered, 'Sure,'

'Ai... I was sealed here... after the battle... so many dead... I myself trapped here... must escape...'

He continued to go 'Blah blah blah' with more gibberish before finally getting to the point.

'Need... staff... any staff... carved wooden oak staffs... a Jewel of Power... the Coruscating Gem... seek the Archmagus... he resides here, below... far below... beware...'

And with that, Erick had rushed off, leaving the way for to exit the small tunnel and enter into a world of-

'What?' It was not like the Dank Caves anymore now! Sand had caved into some parts, but most of the area looked a long-lost and ruined temple. I noticed a few small rooms, with what seemed to be a river of sand at the other side which led into a long hallway. Figuring that if I wanted to continue on, that was probably my destination, I hurried over to the place.

Monsters had now started attacking me, but I had been expecting them. The eerie silence was very suspicious, but they didn't seem to think so. Droves and droves of beasts, from golems to temple monsters, sent their best attacks and attackers raining down on me. I evaded and shot spells at them, as the numbers slowly started to decrease. Finally, I was sore and extremely tired, but the monsters had backed off. Only the brave few (or should I say dozens?) still bothered to attack me, but the monsters rate was now back to normal.

Sipping a healing potion, I crossed the 'Sand River' on a small stretch of stone that hadn't been buried yet. I was now facing what I had seen was a large room littered with statues. Statues never really meant much good in a place, no matter how magnificent it looked. I trudged down the hall, fighting off monsters.

At the end, I was faced with a dead end. Discouraged, I knew I had to go either to the left or right. My brain wasn't working quite right, and that's exactly the way I took: right. Once again, there were two narrow hallways that led back.

Knowing that anywhere could work, I trudged down the first. It only took me to a huge pile of soil, which had obviously caved in from the upper cave itself. I turned back and then ran down the upper tunnel, only to reach a dead end. I was incredibly confused now, and headed back down to the dead end of the first hall and trudged down a hallway that branched off from the left, the way I didn't take. It had led me to another fork, one which led back to the first hall and one which led down another hall. I took that one, only to come across another mound of dirt that had supposedly dropped from the ceiling.

'I give up! I'm too tired!' This I yelled to the hall. There was only one reasonable thing to do now: sleep. The monsters wouldn't dare get me... would they?

I was too tired to care. Yawning, I dropped down on my knees, landed on the ground with a KLUNK! and knew no more.

A loud THUMP! like the shattering of glass against rock roused me from my sleep.

'Whazzit?' I muttered stupidly, getting up. 'Whozzere?'

I stood up on my hind legs, my eyes still closed. Stretching my arms, I opened my eyes and came face to face with a large sphere of glass.

I gasped in horror. The Crystal Golem, on the other hand, raised its arm to attack. I leaped out of the way as it struck the soil behind me with such a strong force it all parted, making a shortcut out of the hallway.

I assumed that it had probably just came, because it probably would have attacked me in my sleep and not waited until I woke up. I sent a couple of small spells against the wall to distract it momentarily so that I could run past it and down the parted soil.

At the end of the main hallway I had wandered last night, by turning to my left, there was an exit on sand. Since this was underground, the sand couldn't be flaming hot, since the sun hadn't been beating down on it. I was right, as I found out when I stepped on it. There was only a very light dusting of sand, and I ran through it like splashing through water.

The crystal golem had finally realized that I wasn't there. A loud howl of rage came from the hallway, as it smashed through a solid wall and began to chase me.

'Aiyee!' I hustled through the sand, while the monster behind me thrashed with rage. Apparently, the trick I had played on it had made it extremely angry.

Soon, a small forest emerged filled with small but living trees. Small, feeble rays of sunlight shined through many holes where the sand had not covered up.

I flew through the forest, darting through the trees. They were too small to actually climb but big enough so that they were taller. The golem raised its massive, crystalline arms and simply crushed the trees out of the way.

Finally, the jungle ended into an extremely large room. I blasted away the trees blocking the nearest entrance and ran through it. Small pieces of furniture were covered in dust, and as I flew by these, a small cloud of dust had formed my trail. The golem was not far behind; it had crushed the exit making it wider and was going through the part of the floor that wasn't covered in the sign of not cleaning for centuries.

I burnt into another room, while the crystal golem thrashed through it. Running as fast as I could, I ran down the hall and raced through another room. A narrow hallway separated it from the next room, but it was covered in sand. I was starting to get tired now, but the crystal golem was more furious than any other wild monster I had ever battled.

By that time, I was too tired to stand and fight it. I need a strategist plan to destroy the monster once and for all. The room I was in now had two narrow hallways which simply led back to the left and right main halls, which were completely useless to me. I spared a glance behind me: the crystal golem, with its glass-like body-

Glass! It was made of glass! Not crystal; I knew it wasn't crystal, but glass! I realized this when it had smashed through a wall; a small chunk had broken off. I mean, it still was a crystal golem, but its origin seemed closer to glass than gem.

By this point of my series, then you must have realized by now that I had always managed to worm my way out of sticky situations like these with a simple strategy. And, as predicted, I had an idea.

Quickly, I ran against the wall. It was stupid just remaining motionless like that with a horrible monster coming, but I stood my ground. I tried my best to look as if I were tired.

It worked. The monster charged at me. However, when it had nearly reached me and crushed me, I darted aside. The crystal golem struck the wall so hard that its arm broke off. Enraged and not thinking that I would probably try the same thing again, it charged towards where I was standing (at the left side) and once again I leaped aside. Its other arm was lost in the endeavor, and that made the crystal golem even angrier.

My plan was working. Quickly, I ran up against the right wall and the monster charged once again, readying itself for a body slam. It tilted its body and struck the wall, but this time I had not moved: it had simply missed.

BANG! Its body fell off. Now all that remained was its head, half a sphere, and looking like a chopped radish. There was only one wall left now, and that was the front wall. As soon as I made it the crystal golem charged once again at its last attempt to destroy me: a headbutt. This time, however, it had no body and therefore had less weight to move around. The golem had moved so fast I could not even dodge it.

WHAM! The force hit me in the stomach. Gasping in pain, I slumped down against the floor. However, the force had been too much for the remainder of the crystal golem also; it split in two and hit the ground, shattering into millions of little particles.

Sighing with relief, I forced a healing potion down my throat and felt instantly better. As a reflex, I hunted around the remains to see if it had dropped anything. Scooping up a couple of healing potions, I turned to leave before something shiny caught my eye: a piece of crystal that appeared to be living.

I scooped it up. I expected it to be cold, but on the contrary, it was warm. It was living! Not Neopet-like living, but plant-like living. I didn't know what to do with it, but I put it in my pack anyways.

During my little fight against the golem in the room, I noticed a small hallway of dirt that must lead to the next part of my journey in this place. I rushed down it and approached the end, finding a small ramp that led downwards to deeper depths.

Feeling that the difficult part of my adventure was finally over, I slid down it gleefully, putting my arms up and shouting, 'Whoo!'

I had not had this feeling for 10 days, nor had I said this phrase. 'Oh the irony!'

The Archmagus of Roo sent a large spike of magic towards me. I ducked, sending the attack against a wall, causing it to crash down. I had dropped my wand some few feet away, but was too weak to care. Until I could gulp down a couple of healing potions, the only thing I could do was evade the Archmagus's evil work. I couldn't possibly imagine anything that could get me out of this mess. Quickly, I hid behind a statue and gulped down two healing potions so fast I choked. The Archmagus of Roo heard the noise and approached my hiding spot, causing me to jump over the statue (it was of a beautiful staff engraved with a sparkling gem stone at the top) and rushing to the center of the small room where my wand lay.

Snatching it up, the keys I had so desperately found in order to get to fight the Archmagus rattled inside my pack. There were six in total, each getting shinier as their rarity increased. They do have a special power: to open doors. Little did I know that they had something... else.

I launched an array of attacks at the Archmagus. He took two steps back, for my attack had stunned it, if only for a little while. The amount of time was short but long enough so that I could fully drink one healing potion before he raised his staff to attack once more. I launched more attacks at him, though not too affective. This battle had to be ended soon, or else I would drop dead with both boredom and exhaustion.

The Archmagus of Roo stretched his body to its limits and opened its mouth wide. No spell casting issued out of it; instead a small black hole opened up in front of his mouth and stretched across towards my body. It landed on my head, and began draining my health. I stumbled in weakness at the Archmagus recovered with my powers.

I was clueless, without a strategy. The Archmagus didn't seem to have ANY down factor like any monster that I had fought so far. Though, come to think of it, none of these major monsters had really had any down factor. However, with a pang, I realized that for all the other bosses I had received some sort of help: Xantan had decayed over the years and became significantly weaker; Margoreth, the ex-teacher, had cast a spell to make barrels and statues knock out Kreai the Pygmy Chief; Tylix, Margoreth's student, had stuck wooden pegs into the body of Gors the Mighty and I merely helped cast the spell that made the ceiling of the classroom collapse inside the Jungle Ruins and crush its body; and Denethir the Scholar had appeared at exactly the correct moment and I had presented the correct components of a Nature Wand to him when Rollay Scaleback had nearly defeated me.

'So I did have help,' I said aloud. 'But not this time!'

I twisted around to the Archmagus and launched a torrent of white beams at him. They struck him in the arm; on the leg; critically on the hand; shot at the tail; almost everywhere you could imagine.

'Puny little Neopet,' he boomed. 'You are no match for me!'

The Archmagus of Roo lifted his staff and shot an ENORMOUS beam of emerald-green light towards me. I jumped out of the way just in time, and one of the keys (I recognized it as the Copper Plated Key) fell out and hit the floor with a CLANG! Both the Archmagus and I stared at it for several wasteful moments before the boss stepped back in fear.

'Don't bring that key any closer to me!'

It held up a warning paw and stepped back cautiously. What would happen? I wondered. Obviously, curiosity brought me to throw the key as hard as I could towards the Archmagus of Roo.

BAZAM! A large flash of rust-coloured light had begun trailing behind the Key when I had thrown it. For its few seconds in the air, it looked like a shooting star flying across the sky. And then, just like that, it hit the Archmagus.

For a few seconds, smoke lingered in the air. Nothing appeared to happen, though he thought that something terrible was about to erupt from somewhere. It didn't take long to find out: a twister, similar to the one he had used to drain me of life, had appeared against the wall. It was huge, as huge as the Turmaculus, and black, as black as night. I could only watch with wonder as it slowly began to swallow up the Archmagus of Roo into another vortex.

'Nooo! This cannot be happening!' he roared. It was so loud that the room seemed to begin to shake as he uttered his last words, 'Find Erick! He has gone mad after being shut up in this place... perhaps you can bring peace!'

The words 'peace' echoed through the room as he was slowly swallowed up into the black hole. Then, there was a flash of bright purple light, and he was gone.

A small, clouded gem lay on the floor where the gasping vortex had been only seconds ago. Wordlessly and thoughtlessly, I bent down and took it. It felt stone cold in my paw, but a small light seemed to pulse through a small area, and whenever I touched it a warm energy would erupt around my body. This gem probably contained some trace of magical powers, but what could it be?

I suddenly remembered the words of Erick:

_'the Coruscating Gem... seek the Archmagus...' _

The Archmagus of Roo supposedly had the Coruscating Gem... that's what he said. I didn't know this any better than Rikti would, I thought. Chuckling to myself, I put away the small, clouded gem along with a couple healing potions. A small teleporter had emerged from a small corner in the Archmagus of Roo's chamber.

Looking around the place and gazing at the spot where the vortex had been only minutes ago, I chuckled to myself and declared, 'Seeya, Archie!'

As I jumped through the teleporter, I could have sworn a small, bolt of purple lightening had erupted momentarily in the middle of the room, but before I could go and investigate what happened, the teleporter made a strange whirring sound and I had teleported away.


	5. The Techo Caves

A WHOOSH! of wind brought me back to my senses. Twilight was flittering in through small cracks in the ceiling. I sprang up, looking around frantically. I had remained motionless in the Temple of Roo for nearly twelve hours, and could've (and should've) been dead now. What had happened?

I recalled what happened that morning: the Archmagus of Roo had been sucked away in a giant, purple vortex. All the evil being had left behind was a small, clouded gem that was extremely heavy and most probably held some unseen power. The only problem was that I didn't know exactly what I did. I had a good reason to believe that it was the Coruscating Gem, which had been needed by an insane old wizard named Erick in order for him to 'escape'. The last time I had seen the Cybunny was around where I now lay, near the entrance/exit of the Temple of Roo.

I was just about to go and get ready to look for him when, at that moment, he came bounding up.

'Ah! It's you!' he screamed in surprise. 'You- survive! Did- Gem- get?'

I was assuming that Erick was talking about the Coruscating Gem. I held up a paw and then hastily dug in my pack until I took out a cold clouded gemstone. The mage took it from me with great interest.

'This! You got it! It is the Gem! But it is damaged...'

He seemed to be so enlightened at seeing the stone that he began to speak in almost-complete sentences. Quickly, he circled his paw around it and muttered something very quietly. A glowing came from the center of the clouded item, and the light grew until it surrounded the entire thing. It was so bright I had to shield my eyes for almost a minute before the spell was done.

Erick slowly stretched his arm so that the Gem was right in front of me. Wordlessly, I picked it up from his paw, studying the sky-blue gem that seemed to have a small touch of lightening bolt, like veins.

'This is the Coruscating Gem,' he said hoarsely. 'Use it well.'

I pocketed the item and then once again turned to face Erick. 'What about the Jewels of Power?' I asked him.

Erick seemed to think for a while before finally answering, once again using his familiar stutters. 'Seek- Leirobas- Swamp Edge- he will tell.'

I now had two of the ingredients needed to free Erick: the Coruscating Gem and a carved oak staff I had gotten off a monster a while back. Now I was off back in the direction of Swamp Edge City, to find Leirobas and, more importantly, information about the Jewels of Power.

I remembered Mokti's instructions to Leirobas's house when I finally reached the town. It was now nearing midnight, but there was a light at the window. I knocked, but there wasn't a response. I tried knocking again, but still there wasn't any sound from within the dwelling; not a greeting or shout. I was about to knock again before a grumpy voice growled, 'Come in before I change my mind!'

I turned the doorknob and pushed the wooden door into a small room lined with shelves filled with books and strange items in jars. A small staircase led up to the second floor of the house, and parallel from it was a table in the dead center of the room. Sitting on a small stool beside it was an old, tired-looking Quiggle who looked as if he despised visitors.

'He- hello,' I stammered nervously.

The Quiggle grunted in reply before beginning his speech. 'Who're you, and what do you want?'

Once again, I was asked 'who I was.' If you had been keeping up with the story, you might have realized that this had been asked so many times that I had grown to ignore it, and simply skipped to my matter of business.

'I came from the Temple of Roo. Erick sent me here to ask you what the Jewels of Power are.'

For such an old Quiggle, Leirobas sure got up fast. As quick as you can blink he extinguished the candle, locked the door and made sure the window and curtains were well closed before turning to me. His eyes glowed red at me in the dark.

'What are you saying that aloud for? Walls have ears!'

I assumed that he could see in the dark, since he sat back down on his stool without bumping into the table or knocking it over. After five tense minutes, Leirobas finally broke the silence.

'Fine, I will tell you about the Jewels,' he sighed. 'But only on one condition: you must prove that you have, in fact, been in the Temple of Roo. Bring me a piece of living crystal, and I will be happy to tell you everything I know about them.'

A piece of living crystal? Where could I get one of those? I turned to leave, reviewing everything that I had found in the Temple: the Coruscating Gem, the carved oak staff, that crystal from the mad golem-

That crystal! I hastily drew it from my pack. Pulling it out, I studied it. It was dark, but the stone glowed electric blue. The interior seemed to be biotic- as if it were living!

With the light of the rock, I made my way to the table and sent it down at the center. Leirobas gazed at it, mesmerized. Finally, he looked up at my gravely.

'I see...' he whispered. 'So you have been in there... well, as promised, I guess I will tell you about them.'

The Quiggle got up and went to one of the bookshelves. The jewel only lit up the area around the table, so I couldn't see which shelf he was getting it from. When he came back a humongous tomb with the title '100 EASY WAYS TO DESIGN YOUR HOUSE' was on the front. Chuckling, Leirobas ripped it off (it was just pasted on) and I saw the real title: 'MEMORIES OF THE LOST'.

He flipped through the pages until he came to one near the middle: one the left page was a picture of five glowing jewels, each glowing a colour of fire red, icy blue, shocking yellow, night black, and crystal white. On the right side, thin, spidery runes told a story, which Leirobas read aloud to me:

' "The Jewels of Power were ancient artifacts that honed the magic of each of the five branches of magic: Fire, Ice, Shock, Spectral, and Life. Each one held amazing powers, but one day a wizard took them and cast them into a vortex with powerful black magic, and they were never seen again. " 'He looked up at me from the book. 'This is all true, or should be anyways. They are lost for all eternity, but I have conjured a spell that may bring one of them back. However, I need some components from you, because I can't leave my house unguarded!'

Breathlessly, I agreed to his quest by nodding; words didn't seem to want to come out.

'Very good. Now, since you seem to be using a Life Magic Wand, I will need from you a tiny beryl and an emerald for the Growing Jewel, for Life Magic. Do you have them?'

Quickly, I rummaged around my bag until I did indeed find them: a white beryl and a huge, green emerald. 'You really are quite the pack rat,' Leirobas answered, taking them from my outstretched paw.

Leirobas flipped the page of his book, and there were more runes. The only picture there was depicted two stones, white and green in colour. He threw the emerald into the air and yelled, 'Aprire il vortex!'

A purple twister opened, one which greatly resembled the one the Archmagus had been sucked through. I began to get worried, but Leirobas was quick. As fast as a Poogle he threw the tiny beryl inside the center. Through the bottom part, lightening bolts cackled from another dimension as the spell was taking place in deep space.

Suddenly, everything was quiet. The Spell had finished working, and nothing bad had happened. The only way you could have seen that a swallowing vortex had been there earlier was a glowing gem, shimmering as bright as a crystal, hovering in the middle of the room. My wand began glowing, and I raised it towards the shining stone.

Beams of light erupted from the tip of my wand and the interior of the Growing Gem. The light was too intense, so I had to not only shield my eyes but also close them. All I could remember seeing was the Gem spinning like crazy, and my wand shaking like there was no tomorrow. If you had been looking from outside, you would have seen something that looked like an explosion from the house, with all of that bright light.

And then, it was dark.

The living crystal had stopped glowing.

It was silent.

A fire taking place near the table...

A match dying...

The shout of a spell...

Light...

'Lupe!' Leirobas shouted, as if in a dream. I walked over to the table towards the Quiggle. I had not seen it, but Erick had appeared out of nowhere. 'You saved Erick!'

'I'm free!' Erick shouted, with glee. Now that he was freed from the hold of the Temple of Roo, he could talk normally. 'Thanks for saving me, Lupe. In return, I will combine the items you have retrieved and make a new staff for you!

With that, the wizard asked for the carved oak staff, the Growing Jewel, and the Coruscating Gem. I hand them over wordlessly, and the Cybunny took them into his two paws. He took the carved oak staff and placed the Growing Jewel at the very top of it. Then, Erick threw the Coruscating Gem into the air, as it began glowing as bright as ever. All of the rays of glow began to combine into a single line of light, and it was sucked in by the Growing Jewel on top of the staff. The staff in Erick's hand began glowing with a white magic, and when it stopped the people in Leirobas's house could see, in Erick's paw, a pure-white staff with a crystal-white gem at the very top.

The Cybunny handed it to me, and I took it, once again wordless. 'Thank you for freeing me,' said Erick grandly.

The Life Staff wasn't very heavy in my pack as I looked inside a large gap in a mountain. Whether I looked left or right or even to the front of me, I could see mountains. I had reached a large mountain range, and the only way through them was apparently through these caves.

'The Techo Caves string through the Techo Mountains,' Mokti had told me as I was leaving town. That only happened that very morning. After the creation of the Life Staff and the freeing of Erick, I had stayed the night at Leirobas's, sleeping on his spare bed. When I woke up, it was early morning, and I had run from bed and quickened my pace, eager to get to the desert before the sand began heating up. I bumped into Mokti on his early morning stroll ('At dawn?') and he had given me the information that the Techo Caves was a large series of caverns that was the only way to cross the Techo Mountains to the lands to the south-east or Sunny Town without having to climb them, which would take an extremely long time. Apparently there were 7 in all, and one of them were completely useless, which was Cave 5. Cave 1 was the first one, Cave 3 led to Sunny Town, Cave 5 was a dead end, Cave 6 to a mysterious fortress, and Cave 7 led to the southwest. When I asked him how he knew all that, he simply said that he heard it from a traveler once, but it didn't appear to sound like a lie, so I thanked him and left town.

It didn't take long to get through the desert; in fact when I was at the southern plains of Roo the sun had barely risen. When I was crossing I had a small glimpse of the Temple of Roo inside a small semi-circle of mountains, nothing was there. I assumed that the Temple of Roo had sanded-in, and the evil monsters pouring out had all faded away into the dust. No monsters attacked me at this crossing.

And now, I was here, looking into the mouth of a humongous gap dug in the earth. 'I wonder where these caves came from?' I asked myself, stepping inside.

Inside, it was somewhat like the Dank Caves, but if you were to describe them with one word then it probably wouldn't be 'dank'. It would probably be something more like 'Lurking', because a strong sense of evil seemed to erupt from the walls everytime I would turn a corner. Soon, I left the entrance behind, but the caves weren't in darkness- yet. However, I still drew out my wand and enlightened the Jewel at the top, which shone brighter than the Nature Wand did.

As I was creeping along in the shadows, I bumped into a fierce looking Jetsam wearing a green suit.

'Who are you?' I shouted at him, in surprise.

'Eh? Hmmm... you look like a strong person, with a Jewel of Power on their wand!' the Jetsam replied. 'Yes... you seem like the right person for the job...'

I didn't understand. 'Who are you? I'm just trying to get to Sunny Town, not anywhere else!'

'Sunny Town? Then you'll still have to be going through these caves... yes, still good...'

'WHO ARE YOU!'

'Huh?' The Jetsam seemed to look surprised. 'Oh. Who am I? Well, my name is Mr. Irgo, and it ain't anything else. I'm a blackmarket dealer, but don't go blabbing that to the cops. I need some more blackmarket items, like stones from dervishes and body parts of theoe dumb drakonids that inhabit these caves. They're everywhere.'

'Well, what do I get if I get you your items?' I was a bit annoyed, seeing as I wasn't prepared to go out of my way just to get some weirdo Jetsam some profit.

'Hmmm... tell ya what, since you're wearing such a nice robe," - with this he pointed to Leirobas's tattered old piece of armour - "I'll make you a new one. All ya need to do is bring me an eye, a hide, and a heart from the drakonids and I can make you a nice, new one!'

I thought to myself for a second, 'A new robe... well, it would be nice...' I made up my mind. 'I'll do it!'

'Yes, that's good, I really haven't made much profit lately... somehow the monsters are growing stronger... anyways, I'll be waiting at Sunny Town for your arrival with my items. Don't worry; you'll manage to pick up the items as you're passing through these first few caves.'

And with that, he continued towards the exit, back to the Desert of Roo. I just shrugged and continued my way; now that he had sent me on a quest I needed to find my items before reaching Sunny Town.

It wasn't long before I emerged at the exit of Cave 1. The sparkling sunshine announced that it was about noon. The first cave didn't take long at all, even though many drakonids and dervishes attacked me, and the fact that the cave was a pretty big maze. I basically marched down the path, expecting to find Cave 2. But, I as a reached the end, I was completely astonished: There was a fork in the road! There were two paths, each leading to one cave. I didn't know what to do; I sat against a small tree and wondered, under the shade of the branches, which I should pick. Sighing, I dug my paws into the pockets of the robe. I was about to relax them when they nudged something that felt like a piece of paper, pushed to the far depths of the pocket.

Excited, I drew it out: a crumpled old piece of paper. I opened it up, and saw that it appeared to be a map of the Techo Mountains. However, my excitement evaporated: Leirobas had forgotten about it when he had washed, and one half of it had completely faded. I could still make out the other half; near the top was a circle with a '1' inside it, which must have represented Cave 1- the one which I had just came through.

Mountains littered the faded paper everywhere, until I noticed a triangle with a 1 inside it. I could only assume that the circle was the entrance, and triangle was the exit. I saw the little path that had taken me to the fork, and one path led me to Cave 2, while the other went to Cave 3. I followed Cave 2's path using my paw: A triangle was the exit to the second cave, and that only led to Cave 4. Cave 4 then seemed to have two exits; one a triangle and one a square. The square led to a dead end, and the Square led to a small field where there was a house near the ocean. A small caption was right beside the house, but I couldn't make it out. I could only see two letters at the top: SU and one letter under that: T. SU T... Sunny Town!

My assumptions were finished. The rest of the map I couldn't see, but I guessed that in order to continue from there, I would have to go back through Caves 4 and 2 and head through Cave 3. Much happier, I stood up and ran to my left towards the mouth of Cave 2.

The sun was setting by the time I emerged out of Cave 4, exhausted. I could see a small town in the distance, and happily declared, 'Sunny Town!' I dashed towards it, and before I knew it I was inside the village.

It reminded me vaguely of Swamp Edge City; just a little smaller. In fact, there was only one street; at the end of it was a cliff that led down towards the ocean. The sun was setting down the horizon, and it looked beautiful.

Entranced by the sun, I sat down by the edge of the cliff to watch the sunset. The only other person looking at it was an old Pteri. Despite her age, she looked as if she was extremely sharp, and someone not to cross.

Suddenly, I remembered why I had come all the way to Sunny Town: to find Eleus Batrin's old teacher, Gali Yoj! The Pteri looked old enough, so I slid over and asked her, 'Are you Gali Yoj?'

She surveyed me through her glasses before finally answering me. 'Yes... you look like an adventurer... from Neopia City. I believe you've met my old student, Eleus Batrin?'

'Yes I do... you see, he has sent me here to ask you what this is.'

I opened my pack and handed her the rusty Medallion retrieved from the Jungle Ruins. She took it into her wing, and observed it very closely. After a few minutes, she began chuckling. 'Ah yes, old Eleus was never really good with Kayannin... anyways, if you must know, this is the Keladrian Medallion, an ancient artifact by the Kayannin tribe. It does have a very powerful magic, but it seems to be gone; absorbed by something hideous and horrible... but a special magic still lies within to open one's heart if it has been consumed by evil, but you cannot use this... except for one purpose. But you'd have to trek all the way to Kal Panning!'

I was confused. 'What's Kal Panning?'

Gali Yoj let a dramatic, sad silence take over before answering. 'Long, long ago, on an island in the middle of a lake, was great, wonderful city by the name of Kal Panning. The people there were prosperous and jolly, led by the wise Faelinn, their leader. However, when the Great Empire broke into a schism, Kal Panning rebelled against the Circle of Twelve, the great rulers of the Great Empire, saying that they were too power-hungry against the land of Neopia. The Circle of Twelve attacked the city, and a great battle raged for one entire month. In the end, the Circle of Twelve decided to use the last of the power to curse the city. The dead that lay within the battlefield of the City rose again, and helped the Circle defeat the last of the defenders. Faelinn was killed in this battle, and rose from the dead. She cast a spell over the rest of her once-magnificent city, and zombies rose from the ground and would kill anything that would come within the limits. Eventually, people learned to stay away from the island the city was on, and it has been a haunted ruin ever since.'

I had been watching the sun as she said this, and it had taken so long only a few feeble rays could still be seen, though it was quite not finished lowering itself yet. 'Anyways, I believe that if you show this medal to Faelinn, it may unlock her lost heart and finally bring her to rest in peace- if she doesn't obliterate you first.'

At this, my stomach seemed to drop as fast as the sun was setting. 'So- what else lies beyond these caves?'

'Well, the land to the southeast is called the Great Plateau... and great it is; giant chias and other horrible creatures roam the grasses. However, the most horrible thing of all is a mountain range of mountains, called... the Two Rings. There are two rings of mountains, too high for anyone to climb, and many, many powerful monsters slithering about inside. But you haven't heard the worst yet- in the northern ring of the Two Rings there's a great palace where evil erupts from the door; the windows; the cracks in the roof. Monsters are escaping from this place, and it's up to you to stop that. You're our only hope; I am too old and frail to travel and most of the other people around in Neopia are too weak or afraid. Please! For the right of Ancient Neopia, you must do that!'

'Huh? How-' But before I could complete my question, Gali Yoj took my paw and led me to a small cottage that was facing the direction of the sun. 'It is late. You must come inside with me and sleep until the next morning! Evil from the sea can jump on to this cliff after the sun is gone, and you don't want to face that.

I thanked Gali Yoj the next morning, and left her cottage when Sunny Town was just waking up. When two hours after dawn had come, I was already at the mouth of Cave 3 (quick, aren't I?) with all three items in hand. I was walking in when I remembered- Mr. Irgo! I sighed, ready to go back, when I crashed into him also going into Cave 4.

'Oh! It's you!' He said in surprise. 'I followed you from Sunny Town, since you forgot about me. Well, do you have all three items?'

I nodded, handing him the eye, hide, and heart of a drakonid. He smirked evilly, and took them from my paw. He put them in a hidden pocket, and from the same one drew out a sparkling, wrinkleless robe, a colour of royal purple decorated with shimmer stars and moons. 'Here you are- a robe of protection!'

I took off Leirobas's old armour and put on my new clothing. It felt beautifully soft, as if it weren't there. I thanked Mr. Irgo and continued my walk into Cave 3.

Noon bathed my face with heat as I exited Cave 3. I had taken a wrong turn and ended up at the entrance to Cave 5, which I turned my back on. I faced Leirobas's slobbery map again, investigating the part where the ink had run short.

Yes, I saw the entrance to cave 3, and a triangle near two cricles... And inside the circles, I saw a circle in the bottom one and a line in the other one. I presumed that the circle was a faded six, and the line was a faded seven. Cave 6 led to what appeared to be a house with a chip taken off the roof, which might've indicated ruins.

Ruins in the Techo Mountains? I knew I had to investigate. I dashed down the path to Cave '6' and entered the cavern.

The best word for describing yourself when you're shocked and you're feeling dumb is the word 'Stupefy.' And I, as I looked at a great plateau, with a forest at a horizon poking out from a huge mountain rage, I felt more stupefied than a stunned person.

'What happened?' I snatched the map and peered at it closely. Yes, the circle did indeed say that Cave 6 would dump me out at the ruins... but where would it begin?

I looked back at the entrance. There was Cave 3, and two other circles next to the triangle, one which held a line and a circle. But peering closer, I saw that the line was six, and the circle was seven! Leirobas had some very strange writing... well, as I later found out, Kayannin did.

I still wanted to search the ruins, even though I was at the exit of the Techo Mountains. I was about to turn back and go back in when my eyes met the belly of a storm giant chia which was blocking the entrance.

I raised my head to see the face of the monster. Laughing nervously, I said, 'Hey, Adee... I see you've finally raided the ice cream factory?'

With that, the beast let out an almighty roar that shook the ground. Realizing my mistake, I quickly turned around on all fours and ran for my life, nearing the city of Kal Panning and leaving the Techo Mountains behind as the sun began to lower in the distance...


	6. Kal Panning

My legs were working as fast as wheels as I ran from the monster. Occasionally, I would shoot a beam of light behind me towards the monster, and sometimes it would seem to slow him down for a second, but not for long.

I had just escaped the terror that was the Techo Caves. Winding mazes and horrific monsters attacked me from within, but I had eventually escaped, even though I never did see the mysterious mountain ruins among the Techo Mountains. I still pondered this as I decided to spring on to all fours and begin running away when I had come face-to-face with a monstrous Chia.

Across the great plateau and over some small foothills I ran, and then through a small forest before I reached the southern coast, where it was so cold that it had formed a small tundra.

'Ice!' I had seen it on Terror Mountain, when I was in the present, but I couldn't even imagine seeing it here. I slipped and slid on it, until I came right to the edge. I stuck out my claws and stuck on, and I never fell into the water.

I sighed in relief, partly because the run through the forest had shaked off the Chia, partly because I didn't fall in the ocean. I was just about to gulp down a healing potion when, suddenly, something worse happened: a giant chia, which looked a lot like the storm giant chia, lumbered towards me from the other side of the tundra.

When I saw the frost giant chia, I choked on the healing liquid. It crashed towards me, stomping its giant feet. When it was about to attack me, there was a large CRACK! noise coming from the ice. I looked down to see that the tundra was starting to break. The ice was breaking, and I was floating away!

Alarmed, I was about to leap back to the main land when I still had the chance, but the frost beast stopped me; I knew that I would be killed if I tried to jump back. I had no choice but to remain there, on that little piece of ice, as it floated to who-knows-where.

I awoke, surprised. I only remembered that night had begun to fallen when I dozed off to sleep- on a frozen piece of water! Astonished, I sprang up, blinking against the morning sun. Mountains had started to appear in the horizon, and I was sure that those were the Techo Mountains. In minutes, I was at the shore, in a small, ruined room covered with ice!

'What could have layered this entire room with ice?' I wondered aloud, stepping off the iceberg and on to the mainland. As soon as I did, there was a large rumbling and the ceiling shaked. Icicles fell and cracked on the ground as a huge blumaroo, seemingly made out of ice, appeared out of basically no where. A guardian- guardian of ice! Guardian of ice... magic!

In its massive paw was an enormous staff, with a crystalline orb at the top. This was a very powerful staff of ice magic, and most probably held the source of the entire boss's power. I knew that I had to either defeat the monster or get that staff in order to pass through his icy wrath.

I whipped out my Life Staff and shot a spell at it. WHAM! It appeared to hit its target, but the Ice Guardian just shaked it off and sent a freezing attack at me. I got out of its way just in time, even though my tail received the biggest chill ever.

I went from behind and shot multiple beams of magic at its back. It seemed to take a lot of magic just to make a small crack in the ice. When I finally managed to actually damage it, the beast turned around to strike again, and I began running. While I was trying to escape for my own defense, I tripped over something on the ground.

Most Neopets would think that fallen on the ground is a bad and embarrassing thing to do, but not this time. A huge ray of magic had erupted from the Staff, and by falling, the attack missed. I looked back to see what I had slipped on, and found a small, yellowing piece of paper. I picked it up, and began to read:

_'One crack in the back, one in the tail, one in the paw, one in the front, one at the head, in that order and the guardian shall be dead.' _

It was the most unusual sentence that I had ever read, and I simply looked at it for a moment before coming back to my senses. I think that it had meant that in order to defeat the icy monster, I had to create one crack in its back, one in the tail, one in the paw, one at the front, and one in the head, in that order. It already had one on its back, and now I had to aim for its tail.

Still on the ground, I crawled silently away, so that I was facing the back. I concentrated on one special, powerful move, and focused it towards the tail. A huge beam of bright, eliminating light erupted from my Life Staff, and hit the tip of its tail. Another crack had appeared, and the guardian spun around, ready to strike. By the time it was fully turned, I was once again behind it, and focusing another attack at the back of the paw clutching the staff.

Before it knew anything, another crack had appeared on its body. Enraged, it spun around, and this time I knew I had to face the music. Its front had already been somewhat damaged by me in the beginning, if you remember, and now it was just about to get damaged again. This time, instead of a full out attack, small spikes of magic erupted from its staff. I dodged them, as I sent stronger beams of Life magic towards the monster, all hitting the same place.

BAM! BAM! BAM! went my attacks and its, and finally, I had managed to dent a crack in its strong frontal ice. Small droplets of water had began dripping out of its wounds, as I went for the final attack, going behind it once again to hit its head. As the attack was firing, however, the guardian of ice magic turned around, extremely fast, and very luckily for me, the beam of light hit its face, straight on. Steam started to erupt from the ice that was all around me, and then a huge explosion seemed to take place from where the guardian was. I stepped back, realizing that in all of that twisting and turning, I had come to the exit/entrance of the room. Quickly, I dived behind a wall in a great hallway, and only heard a loud BOOM! coming from the guardian of ice magic's room.

A large cloud of steam smoked from the entrance, and then all was silent. Blowing away all of the steam, I stepped back inside to see what had happened. The guardian had, well, melted, along with its room. The ice had completely disappeared, and flowing into the ocean, sinking my iceberg! Now I couldn't even get out of here that way, even if I wanted to.

I was about to leave when I saw the guardian's staff hovering over a small piece of ice, which was all that was left of the boss. I ran up to it, and grabbed a hold of it. It felt icy cold, and glowed blue for a second before it was completely mine. Since it was a stronger staff, I was going to use it at the time- at least, until I found the guardian of life magic.

I stepped back into the hall, taking in all the features. Four hallways ran to four other rooms. It was very predictable that the rest of the guardians were probably inside them. The ruin was quiet. Too quiet...

A desert emerged in my view as I stepped inside the nearest room. I had barely taken two steps inside when a huge wall of fire erupted over the entrance. Realizing this, I quickly ran from the doorway as fast as I could, without turning back. I wanted to face the guardian of fire magic as fast as possible.

I dashed to the very end of the room, to my doom. I turned around, afraid to see what I would see, but I saw it anyhow: a grarrl, which seemed to be made out of fire. I picked up my ice staff, knowing that it was useless since ice was weak against fire, and shot beams of light at it. Whenever it came even close to the guardian of fire magic, my attack just melted into water. Then, the monster would launch an attack of its own.

It melted into water when I tried to strike it... I thought of some sort of strategy to defeat the monster somehow. What am I to do? What is... water! Water and ice!

An idea sprang up in my head. I fired strong, freezing attacks towards the ceiling, hoping that it would work. This attracted the fire guardian to fire at those spots, and of course, the ice melted into- water! The guardian was not exactly the smartest one, either, because it kept standing under the water. After many attacks of ice, it finally began to steam, and before I could get away, it erupted into steam.

The desert and the mountains inside began to tumble and fade away, and everything was gone. All there was was a damaged stone ruin, and a small pile of sand with a fiery red staff hovering above it. I quickly reached out and grabbed the Firedrop Staff. It felt warm in my clutch, as if I was putting my paw over a soothing fire. I quickly replaced the Iceheart Staff with the new one, and set out from the room.

Night had fallen when I left the seventh cave once more. It took the rest of the morning and half the afternoon to defeat the remaining three guardians. I had gained experience and three new staffs. The one that I had preferred using was the Moonstone Staff for Life Magic, which glowed depending on the phase of the moon.

I silently crept around the Plateau, expecting monsters of all sorts to lash out at me from the shadows of a nearby tree and tear me to pieces, but nothing came. I didn't know how to get to the lost city of Kal Panning, which was where Gali Yoj had sent me to go. Hopelessly lost, to be wandering the world aimlessly... I felt like the Percival, the Grail Knight.

At last, at the crack of dawn, I saw a small lake. In the middle of the lake was what appeared to be a great ruin. It was as sad to look at as a fallen warrior, as mysterious as the fog, and as dangerous as a deranged, power-hungry Eyrie. All the senses in my body told me to turn back out of fear, but I knew I had to continue anyways. Slowly, I walked across a small strip of land which leads to the island, and silently as it was possible, I entered the destroyed city which was once the great city of Kal Panning.

The undead were unbearable. Hordes of them lashed out at me like the waves of the ocean. The only difference was that the waves of the ocean went back into the ocean. The undead just kept on coming and coming and coming, as if they were sent there to fight me for some unseen purpose. I had used up a large amount of my healing potions when I finally came to what seemed to be the city's center. The undead seemed to have stopped interrogating me when I finally managed to arrive. I found out why when I stepped in a small room that was the Heart of Kal Panning.

'Hello?' I asked, silently as you may please. Suddenly, the bones of the dead rose from the ground and covered all the entrances and exits of the small room. A great twister of teal began to surround me, trapping me right in the center of the typhoon. A gust of wind came from a hole in the ceiling. It formed to become a creature which appeared to be in Aisha. It was dressed in tattered clothing, had fangs, and its eyes were red.

'Are- are you Faelinn?' I asked, meekly. The creature merely made a hissing sound, and lunged to attack at me. I quickly dodged it, and shot an attack at it from my Moonstone Staff. It seemed to be impervious to all my spells, as it continued thrashing towards me. The bones were too strong to break, and every time I tried to destroy the barricades the twister would send me hurtling back. I was trapped in the Heart, and I covered my eyes with my arm, preparing to die.

However, when I lifted up my arm, the light of the Keledrian Medallion shone in Faelinn's face. I removed my arm from my face and looked up at the horrific leader, remembering the words of Gali Yoj. Slowly, I removed the entire Keledrian Medallion, and reflected its light towards the Aisha.

Slowly, she began to fall to the ground. There was a great rumbling, and I thought that the city was slowly caving in on itself. But, after a few seconds, I realized that some sort of magic was doing the exact opposite of my thoughts: The city was repairing itself!

Gusts of wind blew sand from blocking certain passages; walls were fixed; the undead slowly fell back into their graves, finally put to peace. Their leader, Faelinn, was slowly having the strength drained from her body. She glowed golden for one split second; her hair spreading out as she screamed, 'SERVATIS A PERECULUM! SERVATIS A MALEFICUM!'.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. I noticed a couple of healing potions and a small key lying next to the spot where Faelinn had stood only moments before. Quickly, I stored them away, and then nervously walked towards the fallen figure of Faelinn, which had become a ghost. Slowly, I asked her, 'Faelinn?'

The ghost looked up at me, as if it were just noticing that I was there. 'Yes... I am Faelinn... the ruler of Kal Panning.' When she said this, she looked sadly around her city. 'Never mind... I mean the ex-ruler. I do not deserve to live for the city!'

She hissed, as if in pain. Then, she looked at me again. 'However, fate has told me to inform you of all you need to know about the matter... I am aware of what is happening in the land... all the darkness; the creatures rendering out against the people...' She sighed, shaking her head. 'It's all so horrible... and I know the reason. Listen to my story, I will tell you.'

'Long, long ago, there were twelve great beings in the world of Neopia. They are the Circle of Twelve, existing in the time of the Great Empire. The Circle ruled the land for many years, until bad things began to happen, such as the betrayal of Xantan, the breaking of the schism, and the destruction of Kal Panning. The worst thing to happen was when they began to notice that Jahbal, one of the members, began to get a bit power hungry. They soon realized that he was, in fact, extremely desperate for strength and would do almost anything to get it. They managed to lock him up in a dreadful place called the Two Rings, which is a small mountain range that is shaped like, well, two rings. Many dreadful monsters roam the area around there, and everyone who has gone in has never come out- well, it's not like you can come out, anyhow. In order to prevent anything from entering or leaving, a barrier was cast like a dome around the mountains. After many centuries, when the time of the Great Empire had ended, Jahbal had gathered enough strength so that he could break through the barrier and unleash his evil into the outside world. Many monsters slowly began emerging, and the once peaceful land of Neopia was now a barren of battle. If you would like to try and fight him, the only way to get into the Two Rings is through a small door in a small cave to the south. The door was locked, and the key ended up in my possession. It is now yours, to be used whenever you wish, or if you even want to use it at all. I will now leave, for I can finally be put to sleep. Good luck- the fate of Neopia depends on it.'

As if Faelinn was a drop of water, the Ghost slowly dropped to the ground and disappeared, just as suddenly as she came. Looking back, I saw the exit of Kal Panning, wondering slowly to myself- could there really be such a creature in existence? I knew that the only way to find out was to go and look for myself. As silently as I could, I crept out of the city as the sun began its slow rise in the sky for another day, and yet another quest in the world of Ancient Neopia.


	7. The Two Rings

I entered the small cavern, or in other words, the only route into the mountain range known as the Two Rings. Ever since that day when I was trapped inside that Laboratory, I knew I was heading for trouble. And, as I neared closer and closer to the climax of my story, I realized that I was sinking even deeper into the plot, like sinking to the bottom of a very deep ocean. I had been sent to Jahbal by Faelinn, the lost leader of the Lost City of Kal Panning. Holding the key that would open the door to the other side of the cave, I journeyed on in the darkness, dreading everything that could pop out at me. However, no monsters appeared before me. The only living thing in the cave, besides me, was an aggravated-looking Techo dressed in a guard's uniform. He appeared to be guarding a wooden door, which looked as if it were guarded by the Techo's magic, but, yet again, it wasn't.

'Eh? Who goes there?' The Techo snapped. There was a noise that sounded like a spark of fire, and then, the entire cave was lit up by an unseen source of light. 'Who're you?'

The question of my identity seemed to have been asked throughout my entire journey. In fact, I was so used to it now I just replied, 'That doesn't matter. This door goes to Two Rings, right?'

The Techo gasped, and some of the light was extinguished. 'How dare you utter the name! The dreaded name of where the prisoner Jahbal has been kept captive through all these centuries! How dare you even bother to enter! This door has been guarded by my family for generations, and I'm not going to let the likes of you enter!'

He swaggered at me. Quickly, I replied, 'I have the key to this door! See!'

I dug into my pack, and I seemed to find many, many different keys, remembering the different ones I had collected from the Temple of Roo. I finally drew out the one Faelinn had dropped. Now that it was in proper light, I could see it very clearly: the handle looked like a tiny sword.

'Where in blazes did you find this?' The Techo looked aghast. 'No... I don't need to know. Just go through this door, and be on your way!'

The Key vanished, and the door opened. I quickly slipped in, letting it close behind me.

The walls of the passage beyond were covered with strange imprints, mostly roughly-cavern pictures of twelve different Neopets, all looking as if they belonged to royalty.

However, as I slowly crossed through the hall, I noticed that most of these pictures had been crossed out. I didn't know what it meant, and I didn't really bother to care much as I saw the end of the cave. Quickly, I burst into a run and dashed out of the cavern and

slowly emerged into the Valley of the Two Rings.

I was taken aback as I slowly entered the Valley. A strange mist covered the trees and hills, even though the sun was high in the sky, and speaking of the sky, when I looked at it, it seemed to be purple, as if there was a magical barrier surrounded it that distorted colour. I looked behind myself to try and find the entrance of the cave once more, but found that it had been sealed, and the entrance was blue. I could look inside it; even see the bright lights lining the walls; but I couldn't go in. I hammered on the force field, but it was no use. Finally, I gave up, and turned the other way. However, I wish I hadn't, because I had come face to face with what looked like a purple techo dressed like a wizard. He was hovering in the air, and preparing to attack.

'You! Outsider!' it squeaked threateningly. 'What are you doing inside the Two Rings?

Prepare to die!'

The two rings wizard quickly spurt what looked like a large block of fire from his hands. I quickly avoided it, and it set some nearby trees on fire.

'Blast you!' it said, and it literally blasted more fire magic at me. I had grown strong enough to be able to dodge them, but I knew that I couldn't do it forever. Quick and nimble as a petpetpet who could jump over a candlestick, I leapt up to the top of a small foothill and sent attacks raining down over the monster.

'How dare you attack me!' It started to send more fiery attacks in my direction. I avoided them all, and shot a few ribbons of magic from my Moonstone Staff. After a few attacks, it began to stumble, and soon after that, it fell to the ground, defeated. Healing potions lay near its body.

'Haha! Who's the bad one now?' I said, scooping up my reward. As I was getting up, I noticed a whole horde of small, yellow Poogles dressed in armour.

They all squawked in unison, 'Get the one who dares destroy our civilization! Get him!'

Night had fallen, and the sky had turned green by the time I had come to a Palace at the very end of the Valley of the Two Rings. I had fought many monsters, but finally I had reached my destination. It was surrounded by a moat, but as soon as I had stepped up to the edge the bridge had fallen instantly at my feet. Hurriedly, in case any more monsters came, I dashed across the bridge and into the palace. Now that I was on the other side, I saw the force that was moving the bridge. It appeared to be a Chia dressed in royal guard clothes, and another Chia dressed like a servant.

'Who dares venture this far into the Two Rings?' they said at once. Instantly, they began to attack. Attempts to drain the life out of me and trying to spear me were very common in the battle. I took them down one by one, and then, all was silent. Panting, I drew out a healing potion and quickly gulped it down, and, feeling regenerated, quickly began to venture further on inside the palace.

The Palace of the Two Rings sort of looked like a place fit for a King, because I had walked into a large garden when I was still in the building. But, I could still sense some evil presence lingering in the air; I could almost smell it. I was frequently attacked by monsters; even the groundskeepers and gardeners rounded up to try and defeat me. It was obvious that nobody wanted me there.

When I had exited the garden, I came to a maze of different rooms and hallways. I took a right turn, and found a long hallway of rooms with doors. I opened them and took a quick glance inside, but soon I decided to just stop, because nothing really interesting seemed to be inside them. Plus, some of them even held some more Chias, who would spill out like ketchup from a bottle and begin attacking me immediately. Finally, at the end of the Hallway, I opened the door to a room and found a staircase leading upwards. Thankful, I quickly dashed up them as fast as I could.

The second floor wasn't much more interesting than the first. There was another garden, but this one was smaller than the one on the first floor. Then a large maze of statues, followed by a Water Labyrinth. New Chias started to attack me, such as sentries and captains. At the end, I finally uncovered the Staircase leading up. I was dead tired now, because the monsters were very frustrating, powerful, and tasty but poisonous.

Dashing up the stairwell, I took a swig of Healing Potion and found myself at the beginning of a large red carpet, which lead to a figure at the very end. I sprinted down the hallway towards- what was it? It looked like a monster made from slime, with red orbs of destruction for eyes. I looked behind it, and saw the Valley of the Two Rings, with its purple skies. At the end of the third floor was a balcony, but that wasn't truly what was amazing about it. The thing that was actually worth mentioning was the slime-thing.

'I have waited here for you, Lupe!' it uttered. Its voice sounded like the voice of- but no, it couldn't be. Xantan the Foul was dead. How could he still be alive?

'Oh, you're thinking I was defeated by your little spells, weren't you?' it sneered. 'I was weak and decayed... but when you defeated me, and took away the Ring binding me, I was free to start regaining my strength and will to dominate Neopia! You have only unleashed my true powers! I am Xantan Reborn!'

Questions quickly started to flood through my mind as quick as I could move in battle. 'Ring binding you?' was the only thing that I was able to say.

'Yes... the Ring you took from me had many magical powers, but my magic countered against it, and instead of aiding me it bound me in that weak, pathetic state. However, now that I have finally gotten that fool Jahbal out of the way, and drained all of his power, I am now strong enough to do whatever you please! Watch!'

He clapped his slimy hands together and there appeared what looked like a mirror. He quickly muttered some words under his breath, and Neopia City came in view. It looked very peaceful, and unchanged when I had last left it. Xantan threw a spell at the portal, and fireballs began to rain from the sky. Plains lupes began to run into the towns limits, destroying everything in sight. The Hour of Faithful Resting had been disturbed, and the townsfolk fled from their houses, screaming. Clearly visible in the mirror was Eleus Batrin, Margoreth, Tylix, and Denethir. They were trying to calm everything down, but nothing seemed to work.

'See what my magic has become?' chuckled Xantan horribly. 'Watch, now!'

Swamp Edge City had zoomed into view. Xantan raised both his hands into the air and muttered an evil incantation, and, and all of a sudden, the Swamp overflowed and Swamp Edge City was now 'Swamped City' as quick as you could blink.

'Never really did like that town... I mean, who would like the name 'SWAMP EDGE' City? What a wretched name... Oh! Watch closely in the mirror!'

Sunny Town, perched on its high cliff, appeared. Xantan traced a shape in the mirror, and a large rumbling started to take place in the area. I could only guess what was going to happen, and I was right: The Cliff broke off and fell into the ocean far below.

'Ha... dumb founders, deciding to build a town on a cliff!'

The mirror slowly dissolved, and Xantan looked back at me.

'So, Lupe,' he said. 'Are you ready to battle?'

'B-battle?' I stammered.

'Of course, battle!' he said. 'What do you think you trekked all the way up here for? A cup of tea? We're not just some crazed school girls; we're warriors!'

'Uh...' I began, but Xantan had already launched a huge wave of destruction at me. I quickly leapt as high as I could in order to escape the attack. I sent some of my own streaks of magic at him, which seemed to hurt him only a little bit.

'Ha! Your mediocre attacks do not harm me! I am XANTAN REBORN!'

'So I've heard,' I muttered under my breath, but that was the wrong thing to say. Xantan sent not one, but THREE attacking waves of damage towards me. They hit me so hard that when the attack was done I had slammed right into the wall. I was very weak, and barely had the strength to get up. I gulped down one of my strongest Healing Potions and quickly dashed to the Balcony to avoid Xantan's newest attack.

'Fool! Stop running from me, for you can do nothing against my power!' Xantan sent a forceful amount of magic at me, which sent me flying over the edge of the balcony! I quickly grabbed on to the edge. Looking down, I saw that if I fell, I would fall right into the dark waters of the moat.

'Well then, Lupe! I daresay that this is the end of you!'

'No- no- please don't!' I begged, mercifully.

'Oh, yes, I will!'

'NO!' I shrieked. But, it was too late; Xantan sent three small sparks at my paw, and suddenly it just gave away. The next thing I knew, I was falling through the air very quickly, the waters coming to meet me...

Anyone looking from above would have seen a large splash of dark water, and then after a few seconds, the water was peaceful, with no signs of struggling to try and get back above or any bubbles. The Lupe was gone- or was he?

The first sense of feeling I got was that I was cold. Very, very cold, with my eyes shut completely tight. The last thing I remembered was falling off that balcony, and into the deep waters of the moat... I could still feel the rush of wind in my fur. 'I am going to die...' I thought to myself. 'That insane Xantan Reborn threw me off the edge, and now I am going to die... I must open my eyes; I must try to get above the surface...'

Slowly, I forced my eyes open, because they felt like lead. Instead of the murky slime and gruesome things I expected to see in the moat of the territory of a sludge monster, I saw ten pearly white figures in front of me, all looking at me gravely. I gasped, and realized that I could gasp- I could breathe underwater!

'Lupe,' one of the pearly figures said. It was a wise-looking Kyrii that looked very old. 'We are the Spirits of the remainder of the Circle of Twelve.'

'Circle of Twelve?' was the only smart thing I could blurt out.

'Yes, the Circle of Twelve. We died out many centuries ago, but our spirits escaped and have fled to this moat. We are responsible to help anyone who is trying to overtake Xantan - 'That betraying piece of slime!' said an elderly, female Pteri from behind' - and fall into our troubled waters.'

'But... what could you do to help me?' I asked.

'We can give you all of our spirit's powers, but it comes with a price...' the Kyrii said. 'If you were to misuse our magic, or fail in defeating Xantan, then you, instead of just going back to Neopia City, will come here to join us in this moat for all eternity...'

'Why can't I just leave?' I asked.

'The magic of the Two Rings has prevented us from leaving.' the Kyrii said. 'It is impossible. The only way for the spell to broken is for the Cursed One, Xantan, to be slain once and for all.'

There was a grave silence. 'Would you like our powers? If you do not accept them, then you will die.'

I quickly blurted out, 'Yes!' at the sound of the possibility of death at the moment.

'We will now begin the procedure.' said all twelve spirits at the same time. Each of them raised their hands and then said, 'Dare i nostri poteri allo Scelto Un!'

A row of golden bubbles emerged from their spirits, as each of them slowly floated away in the depths of the water. I felt myself rising, very slowly, and suddenly, a jet of water rushed from the surface of the water, with me at the top. It rose all the way up to the Balcony where Xantan Reborn had knocked me off hours ago.

I jumped up on to the floor, and declared, 'Xantan! I am here for a rematch!'

'So, pathetic one,' Xantan grumbled, looking up at me. I was quite a sight; a silhouette of me standing in the moonlight, which was full. 'You have returned- for your defeat! We shall battle to the death!'

I shot a row of spells repeatedly at him, shooting a hole through his body. I could almost predict the sight of the damage repairing itself, but Xantan was starting to look slightly tired.

'You troublesome thing!' it shouted. Xantan put his hands together and shot jets of dark magic at me. In fact, they were so black that they looked like little pieces of a starless, moonless night. I quickly dodged them all, and landed behind him. It took him quite a while to move around, so I managed to get a lot of damage before he turned to face me and send more attacks. I dodged these too, and leaped up to his side, shooting weak sparks at him. His sides and his motor abilities seem to be his weak points, and it was to these that I turned to, trying to attack those parts.

Finally, after a long time, Xantan was pushed to the edge of the balcony, extremely tired. One more strong attack and he would be dead. He looked up at me, and then declared, 'You! You have messed up my plans for far too long!'

Xantan looked as if he were using the last of his powers to cast a new spell, which was,

'Distruggere il palace!'

Instantly, the pillars behind me began to crumble. Using the last of what seemed to be the magic in me, I shot one last jet of magic at him, praying that it would hit its mark.

It did.

Xantan seemed to be dissolving before my very eyes. 'No... no!' The orbs of destruction in his eyes died out; his eye sockets dissolved; his very skin was turning into liquid-like slime. He slowly became what seemed to be a thick goop that rolled over the side of the balcony and falling into what was, presumably the moat.

Xantan Reborn was defeated. However, at that very moment, a large chunk of a pillar had fallen on my head, and I fainted to the ground as the Two Rings Palace was slowly destroyed all around me, instead of me celebrating and leaving the area in peace. That means that I didn't realize the chunk of cliff that rose back up to the mountain where Sunny Town was, completely unharmed, or the swamp mysteriously sinking back into the ground at Swamp Edge City, or the apocalypse ending near Ancient Neopia. All there was in my mind were strange, crystal lights and a whooshing sound, like I was going at a very, very fast speed along the plains…

I awoke in a glorious room of white. It looked like the room of a Royal Chamber in a dream. For the first time in a long time, I felt thoroughly rested, after all of my adventures in the wildlife of Neopia. I got up instantly. My armour had been taken away and replaced with a delicate white robe, which felt as light as a cloud. My weapons were spread out on a long table on the side of a nearby wall, along with all the other items I had collected through my journeys. I looked at each one of them, memories flooding back into my mind. Sighing, I approached the door, but before I got there it had burst open, and Margoreth, Denethir, Mokti, Rikti, Gali Yoj, Korabric, Pommana, Eleus Batrin, Choras Tillie, Erick, Leirobas, and Tylix all crammed inside the chamber.

'Lupe! You have awoken!' said Eleus Batrin, stepping up to me. 'You are our Savior, for defeating the unspeakable evil which has flooded through all of Neopia!'

All of the people in the room to cheer and clap for me, and Denethir sent up sparks saying 'THANK YOU!' in the air. When all the cheering had finished, I asked, 'What happened?'

'Well, when you defeated Xantan Reborn, you were knocked out with a rock,' said Leirobas. 'Naturally, when you die, you are sent back to Neopia City.'

There was silence in the bed quarters. And then...

'You are now being sent back to the future. You have lived your purpose of saving Neopia from an Ancient horror, and now you may return to your time after saving your present Neopia from the dictator that would overtake it, Jahbal the Seventeenth. You should be proud of yourself.'

I really didn't know what to say, and I was spared of saying anything because there was a sudden jerk from my back, and, as if I were hooked from behind to a fishing rod, I was being pulled back, back, back into the future and away from Ancient Neopia.

When the sanity returned to him, the Lupe was face-to-face with an owner. She had short, brown hair and a Yellow Tonu at her side.

'You are the cutest lupe I have ever seen!' she screamed. The girl hugged him tight, and said, 'I would like to adopt this one!'

After a payment of 5,666 neopoints, the girl led her newly adopted pet out into the sunlight.

'I'm Katie,' she said to the Lupe. 'I have three other pets, and they're all dying to meet you. They're all so excited!'

She led him down an assortment of streets and houses, finally stopping outside one that was decorated with Meepit-print wallpaper, even from the outside.

Dazzled, the Lupe was about to go inside, but first, he decided to ask his new owner what his name was. The question had been haunting him through all through a journey which he could not quite remember, but he had done something very grand and very fabulous- if only he could remember what!

'What is my name?' he asked Katie.

'Oh, your name?' she said, frowning only a little bit. After about five seconds of thinking, she declared, 'Your name will be... Hero!'

Grinning, the Lupe was lead inside the house. The door silently closed behind them as the Lupe, Adam, prepared for a happy lifetime with his new owner. However, outside on the sunny street, a fragment of a cloak, which was brook-red with purple stars on it, slowly fluttered down the street of Neopia Central, representing the memories of many grand adventures… slowly, it was picked up in a gust of wind and blown away, never to be seen again.


End file.
